RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CAPTAIN.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10242, 3 September 1909, Page 4

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A CAPTAIN.

(Per Press Association.) ' Mr Justice Cooper gave judgment in the Supreme Court to-day m the appeal case, Smith v. Lambert. The appellant is' the Superintendent ot the I Mercantile Marine, and the respondent I is master of the Union Company s Ara- ' Lambert was charged before Mr Riddell, S.M., with leaving John Peebles, a fireman, at Wellington without makin"- provision for him under the Shipping and Seaman's Act. Peebles went into hospital for treatment and rejoined the ship after recovering from an operation. The Act requires the master of a ship to deposit the sum necessary for maintenance and medical expenses. , , The Magistrate found for defendant, holding that it was doubtful if at the time of Peebles' discharge 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 The Judge upheld tho Magistrate's finding, and dismissed the appeal with costs. He held that it was only when a man was wholly prevented from performing his work bv illness that he was entitled to the benefits of the section I under which the prosecution was taken.