SHIPPING CO. WINS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11225, 2 June 1922, Page 5

SHIPPING CO. WINS

FILM CO. LOSES CASE WERE HARBOUR jJOARD OFFICIALS RESPONSIBLE? SUPREME COURT DECISION. Judgment in the Supreme Court was on Wednesday handed down by His Honour Mr Justice Sim in tho civil action, Dominion Film Company v. the master and owners of the steamer Westmeath. In May, 1920, a fire broke out on. the vessel while .carrying a quantity of films consigned to/ the plaintiffs from Liverpool. Seven films not being discoverable when the cargo was unload-e-d, the inference was that those films had been jettisoned along with other cargo in order to save the vessel. After Dalgety and Co. had paid out to the plaintiffs the amount due under their insurance policy, the films were discovered in one of the sheds belonging to the Harbour Board, and the insurance money wag refunded. A SECOND ACTION. A second action was then brought by the plaintiffs against the master and owners of the Westmeath for the loss and! inconvenience allegedly caused by the defendant’s negligence. In reviewing the evidence, His Honour Mr Justice Sim contended that the negligence or mistake had not originated with the master, owners, or agents of the Westmeath, but with some offioer of the Harbour Board, and after the unloading of the films from the steamer. At the hearing of the case the plaintiffs were represented by Mr M. Myers, Mr A. H. Hadfield being for the -defendants, to whom His Honour Mr Justice Sim now awarded judigment, with costs.