SHIPPING COMPANY PAYS DAMAGES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 89, 6 July 1927, Page 7

SHIPPING COMPANY PAYS DAMAGES

OBLIGATION LIES WITH SHIPOWNERS TO DISPROVE NEGLIGENCE (From Our Oxen Correspondent.) WHANGAREI, To-day. Written judgment in the case, Pitcher v. Union Steamship Company and Northern Steamship Company, which was heard in the Whangarei Magistrate’s Court last week, was given by Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M., yesterday. The judgment has peculiar and farreaching interest. In his statement of claim the plaintiff said that he consigned through the Union Steamship Co., Ltd., at Christchurch, 13 cases of goods, to be carried by the company or its agents from Lyttelton to Whangarei: that the said cases were received by the company in good order and condition; that the company thereupon undertook to convey the said cases in good order and condition to Whangarei and accepted for such services the sum of £7 17s 3d; that the cases were at Auckland or elsewhere transhipped, and were brought to Whangarei by a vessel belonging to the Northern Steamship Co., Ltd., the latter company then acting as agents for the Union Steamship Co., Ltd.; that during transit from Lyttelton to Whangarei some of the said cases were broken and destroyed through negligent handling by the servants of the defendants or one of them, thereby the plaintiff as owner suffered damage to the contents thereof to the extent of £77* 11s 6d. SHIPOWNERS’ DUTIES In reviewing the evidence the magistrate held that it had been proved that the cases were delivered in good order and condition by the Union Steamship Co. to the Northern Company’s S.S. Claymore at Auckland, and accepted' by the company’s clerk. At Whangarei, after discharge of the cases from the Claymore, it was found that four of them had been badly damaged between the time of shipment at Auckland, and discharge of the cases at the Northern Company’s shed alongside the steamer at Whangarei. The plaintiff took delivery of the 13 cases, reserving the right to claim against the responsible parties. “When goods are shipped in good order and condition at Auckland, and on being discharged at Whangarei are found to be damaged, the onus is upon the shipowner to prove that the loss was not due to negligence, or that he is exempt from liability under the terms of his contract with the consignor,” said Mr. Levien. “The change in condition of the four cases cannot be explained except upon the assumption of very rough handling by the employees of the Northern Company. In other words, the company have not discharged the onus of disproving negligence on the part of their employees. Under such conditions the plaintiff is entitled to judgment.” Judgment was accordingly given for the plaintiff foi* £44 11s 6d with costs and witnesses expenses, £l4 3s. The Northern Steamship Company was also ordered to pay costs and expenses of the Union Steamship Company amounting to £ls 5s 6d.