A NEW ZEALAND APPEAL CASE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11957, 2 February 1901, Page 2

A NEW ZEALAND APPEAL CASE.

THE AORANGI'S STEWARDESS.

I(Fhoj[ Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 22. Late on Friday afternoon last, in the Court of Appeal, the Master of the Rolls and Lords Justices Collins and Stirling had before them the case of Green versus the New Zealand Shipping Company. llrs Mary Catherine Green, the appellant, appeared in person. She asked for a. new trial of ail action, in which Bhe was plaintiff, heard ei before Lord Russell of Killowen and a special S jury in June last. In 1886, being at that time a | court dressmaker, she took a fancy to go to jj sea, and later she obtained the post of steward- | ess on board the steamer Aorangi, of the New | Zealand Shipping Company. At the end of a the voysgc to New Zealand and back she reP ceived a certificate of discharge, with a atatejj ment that her character was good. She signed ■ H articles again for a second voyage, and on the B return of the vessel she was discharged, but the Ij certificate contained no reference to her charac- | ter, the corner where the entry should have been [] having apparently been snipped off. She made | several applications to the company in refera ence to this matter, with the result that the | present action was brought. jj The action was in the form of a claim for a damages for libel, and for the piutilation of her | certificate. Lord Russell, the late Chief JusU tice, had decided against her on the ground thai | sho had wrongly sued the master of the 9 Aorangi. She held that the discharge certifiI cate in its mutilated form would lead people

to suppose that she had lost her character. In giving judgment in the appeal, the.Master of the Rolls said tho master of a ship, under tho rules of the Board of Trade, was bound to

IB give each of the crew a " discharge " order, but he was not bound to givo a character. It was only fair to say that tho lady's character stood perfectly good, and that, in his judgment, the matter being one entirely within the discretion of the master of a ship, she had no cause to ■, complain. The application ontirely failed, j The Lords Justices concurred. \ j Mr Cheytor, for tho company, said Mrs 3 Green had worried them about this matter for •5 30 years. They had not enforced their right to jj costs of the action, but he pressed for costs jj now, the appeal having no merits. I Mrs Green: If I have to pay the costs lam jj ruined. J Mr Cheytor: Application will be dismissed i with coats?

The Master of the Bolls: Yes.