BREACH OF CONTRACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19156, 23 October 1925, Page 12

BREACH OF CONTRACT.

THE AMERICAN DESERTER. WELLINGTON CABARET CASE. £lO DAMAGES AWARDED. [BY TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION. ] WELLINGTON, Thursday. Reserved judgment was given to-day by Mr.- W. G. Riddel], S.M., in the cabaret case, Campbell v. Miller, in which the proprietress of the City Cabaret claimed £SO damages from S. L. Miller, a deserter from the United States warship Oklahoma. He gave judgment for plaintiff for £lO. Plaintiff engaged defendant and six others as musicians to play at her cabaret in Wellington at a salary of £SO a week. The agreement provided that plaintiff could terminate the services of the band or any of its members on seven days' notice, but the members of the band could not terminate their engagement under three months' notice. Defendant and the other members of the band were deserters from the United States Navy. Defendant entered plaintiff's employment on August 29 and left on September 21 without notice. Defendant pleaded infancy as a special defence, and that the contract to employ a seaman who had deserted from a foreign ship was a breach of section 349 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1908. The magistrate held that defendant had not proved he was under 21 years of age. There was no proof that plaintiff induced defendent to desert from his ship, but she knew he was a deserter. However, the provisions of the Shipping and Seamen Act dealing with deserters from foreign ships was not applicable in the case of a naval deserter. «