LEFT ON SHORE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14157, 4 September 1909, Page 5

LEFT ON SHORE.

<> A FIREMAN'S MAINTENANCE. [BY TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIATION'.] Wellington, Friday. I.N' the Supreme Court to-day Mr. Justice Cooper gave judgment in the appeal case Smith v. Lambert. Appellant is superintendent of mercantile marine, and respondent master of the Union Company's s.s. Arahura. Lambert was charged, before Mr. Kiddell, S.M., with, leaving John Peebles, a fireman, at Wellington, without making provision for him under the Shipping and Seamen Act. Peebles went into the hospital for treatment, and rejoined the ship after a recovery from an operation. The Act requires the master of a ship to deposit a sum necessary for his maintenance and medical expenses. The magistrate found for defendant, holding that it was doubtful if at the time Peebles was discharged from the ship the injury from which he was suffering, was such as to wholly incapacitate him, and that he was not "left on shore" within the meaning of the Act. The judgo upheld the magistrate's finding, and dismissed the appeal with costs. It was only when a man was wholly prevented from performing his work by illness, said His Honor, that he was entitled to the benefits of the section under which the prosecution was taken,