DIRTY BLANKETS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1786, 4 November 1919, Page 11

DIRTY BLANKETS.

THE PAKEHA CASE. HIGHBURY LAUNDRY CHARGED. CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION. Some time ago considerable interest and indignation were aroused by the information that quantities of blankets for the use of troops voyaging from England had been consigned from a Ohristchurch laundry to a ship in an unwashed condition. The matter was brought to the Magistrate's Court this morning when a company trading under the style of Brown's Highbury Laundry, Limited, was charged that it did wilfully break a contract made with the Crown in respect of and for the purpose of the present War, a contract made on or about June 20, 1919, for washing military blankets, by not properly washing certain of the said blankets, and by delivering them not properly washed as they should have been, pursuant to the said contract, contrary to the War Regulations Act, 1914, dated November, 1915, and published in the "New Zealand Gazette" of November 15, 1915. Mr S. G. Raymond, K.C., conducted the case for the Crown. Mr M. J. Gresson appeared for the defendant company which pleaded not guilty. THE CASE FOR THE CROWN. Mr Raymond read the clause round which the case revolved: "No person shall wilfully break any contract made with the Crown in respect or for the purpose of the present War." He stated that the defendant was a company carrying on business a,s a laundry in Christchurch. The complaint arose from a contract to wash blankets from the Pakeha, a chartered liner carrying troops from Great Britain to New Zealand. The Shaw, Savill and Albion Company were agents for the Imperial Government in regard to the Pakeha. On board the vessel there was a large quantity of blankets requiring washing. On June 3 and 4, delivery of 4000 blankets was made from the ship to Brown's Laundry. Miller, the agent for Brown's Laundry at Lyttclton, had checked the blankets, and on arrival at the laundry they were received by the manager of the laundry, Mr Street. Among the employees at Brown 's Laundry was a returned soldier named Solomon, who would state that Street had said to him at the time of his engagement with the company: "Keep your mouth shut to outsiders as to what you see going on here. There are tricks in all trades." Solomon worked on the blankets in question. The dirty ones were put on one side and washed in a perfunctory manne; the others were not washed, but placed alongside the "folding" table. Street showed him how to fold the blankets—first a clean one, then three dirty blankets, and a further clean one. The half-dirty grey blankets were folded inwards. The bundles, made up in this fashion, were consigned to the Pakeha at Lyttelton. Mr Raymond contended that the company fraudulently packed and then sent the blankets in that filthy condition to the Pakeha, which then sailed to Timaru. At this port, on June 24, an examination was made by the master and a steward, together with a military officer, and large numbers of blankets were found to be unwashed. On June 27 the laundry sent in a bill for the washing, which came to £199 19/- for the blankets (3999 in number). Captain Clayton, who would be called in evidence, had called at- the office of Mr W. J. Hunter, and there seen Messrs Hunter, Best and Street, all directors of tho company, when Street had admitted to him that many of the blankets had not been washed. The Crown did not allege, said Mr Raymond, any knowledge of what was being done on the part of Messrs Best and Hunter until after all the damage had been done. Where a company delegated the management of its affairs to a controlling manager, who was also in this instance a large shareholder, the company was criminally liable for the act of its manager. Mr McCarthy: The directors are not personally liable unless they had cognisance of the offence. »- BLANKETS SENT TO LAUNDRY.

A. P. Farrow, accountant for the Shaw, Savill and Albion Steamship Company at Lyttelton, stated that at the time the Pakeha arrived at Lyttelton, on June 1, Captain McDougall was the local superintendent for the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company. He had since died. He received certain instructions from Captain McDougall, and sent for Miller, the port agent for Brown's Laundry. Blankets from a previous transport, the' Corinthic, had been washed by Brown's Laundry, at a charge of 9d per blanket. Brown's contracted for tho Pakeha washing, and on .June 3 and 4 he saw the blankets from the Pakeha placed in the trucks. The storekeeper on the ship and Miller tallied the bundles, Miller's tally being somewhat larger than the ship's. He remembered the blankets being returned to the Pakeha from the laundry, over a period of 11 days, from June 10 to 21. The ship sailed on June 22, for Timaru, carrying the returned blankets. In consequence of something his company had heard, it wired to Timaru. On or about June 24 he saw Street, and said to him: "There is trouble with these blankets; they have not been washed." Ho' replied: "Some of them have not been washed, but they have all been through the fumigator." Witness said he thought that Street had stated that he hadn't time to do the blankets, but he was not sure.

To Mr Gresson: He had no previous experience of arranging for blankets to be washed, except in the case of the Corinthic. In the case of the Pakeha, the account for the washing was sent to the ship, and, if no dispute had arisen I over the price, the account would have been paid by the Shaw, Savill and ! Albion Company's agent. He did not 'inspect any of the blankets himself. DIRECTORS DISGUSTED. I Herbert Clayton, master mariner, and superintendent at Lyttelton for the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company, stated that he succeeded the late Captain McDougall in the position on Juno 2'.i. The Pakeha was a requisitioned liner carrying troops for the Imperial Government, with the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company acting as agents. She ' had been requisitioned for a period of | two years. The bills if approved, were I passed by the ship's agents and the I money was refunded by the Imperial ! Government. After the return of the I blankets in the condition they were in, he saw the manager of the laundry, Mr ! Street, and told him that on account of the condition of the blankets he would not pay the account. Street replied that he had received no complaints as to the state of the washing, only complaints as regards the tally. He stated that ho had received complaints about the washing of two military suits. Some days afterwards witness had received a communication from Mr Hunter, and went to his office j | where he met him, Mr Best and Street, i directors of Brown's laundry. He in- ! formed them that on account of. the i dirty state of the washing he could not

pay them. Mr Street admitted to the other two directors that the washing was not done, and stated that he had not time to do it. Both these gentlemen were surprised and disgusted, and said that it was a disgraceful state oi' affairs. They also expressed regret and said they would do everything in their.power to rectify matters. Mr Hunter wrote out a telegram at witness's request and dictation, to his headquarters in Wellington, stating that the directors knew nothing previously of the complaint, and would undertake to rectify matters. To Mr Gresson: The company did not disclose the fact when it made its eontracts for washing that the defendant company was accepting a contract to the Imperial Government. Nevertheless, it was to the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company they would look for payment. He would consider that it was part of his company's duty to have the blankets washed, acting as agents for the Imperial Government, to whom the blankets belonged. Cleaned 'blankets were to the next lot of troops on any boat. His company was paid for requisitioned boats at the Blue Book rate—so much per ton per year, by the Imperial Government. In the terms of the contract food also had to be supplied. The blankets were put on board by the British Government and issued to the troops. In the ordinary course of events when the blankets became dirty they were washed. He was certain that the Government reimbursed his company for any washing done. He did not know until to-day that the blankets had since been washed in Wellington expense of the defendant company. .• "KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT."

Herbert Ormond Solomon, labourer, Christchurch, stated that lie was a returned soldier, having seen service in Egypt. He went to j>vork in Brown's Laundry in June last, afr the recommendation of the Repatriation Board. He stayed there about 12 days. His position at the laundry was that of folding and hanging blankets for the Pakeha, and as soon as that was finished "he was finished." The wages offered were £2 10/- per week. He asked for more, but could not get it. Street said to him: "Whatever you see in this laundry, keep your mouth shut to outsiders, as there are tricks and ' haves' in all trades." On commencing worky Mr Street met him and a man named Brett with the same injunction. Street showed them how to fold the blankets, which were those of the Pakeha, white and grey in colour. There was a heap there, which they folded. After being folded these were consigned to the Pakeha. It was his duty to load the lorries with these bundles. Later he went to a shed outside, where there were several hundred white and grey blankets to be picked over. All the grey ones were taken inside and placed alongside the "folding" table. The white ones, if anything like clean, were also taken in and placed on the table. The particularly dirty ones were washed. When they were washed and dried they were put alongside the table, where a clean blanket, three dirty ones and a further clean one were done up in bundles. Half-dirty ones were folded inside the white blankets. The grey ones were parcelled in bundles of ten. Mr Raymond: Washed or unwashed? Witness: Unwashed. There was a heap of blankets washed on the Saturday afternoon and these remained in a heap until the following Wednesday, when they were hung up to dry. The girls at the mangle complained of the foul smell coming from the blankets, and had to go outside for fresh air occasionally. The majority of the grey blankets were not washed. When witness left, Street again repeated his injunction about saying nothing about what he had seen.

Mr Gresson asked permission for Mr W. J. Sim, who was engaged as counsel for Mr E. Street in a ease following on the present one, to cross-examine the witness. This was granted. To Mr Sim, the witness stated that he had only repeated the story as told by him this morning twice. He had never had any experience at laundry work previously. He would say that Brown's was a busy laundry. He would admit that they were working overtime and had more work in hand than they could cope with. He had not mentioned this fact to the Eeturncd Soldiers' Association, one of the parties to whom he had told his story. He considered that what the company could have done was to. fold up the dirty blankets and mark them "unwashed." To wash the blankets, the company could have put on extra men and worked three shifts. They could have worked extra hands at night. He had not said anything in favour of the company to the Returned Soldiers' Association, but he considered he had stated the case in a fair way. The ship's laundry was not as dirty as the troops'. The washing of 'the latter involved great, difficulty in cleaning. After some of them had been washed, they were still not fit to be slept, in. There were about 2000 odd blankets unwashed. He could tell by the look of them which ones had been washed and which had not. He never saw any disinfectant used and never smelt any. The employees were working from 8 a.m. until 10 p.m. He did not know that on one occasion they worked all night. Mr Street told him to take the tapes off, fold the edges in, make neat bundles, and so make it appear -as though the blankets were washed. Ho did not say this in his evidence, because he did not think of it. He was aware that the blankets were being treated in a fraudulent manner, but nevertheless he continued to work on the job. During the 12 days he worked at the laundry, Mr Street was a particularly busy man; in fact he appeared nervous at times. To Mr Raymond: He considered that in view of the amount of disease brought back on returning transports, that a fair thing had not been doue in leaving the blankets unwashed, to be reissued to returning troops. Sergeant-Major H. E. Patchett, of Group 10, stated that, on June 24, he visited the Pnkeha at Timaru, and inspected a large portion of the military blankets on the ship. The master of the Pakeha (Captain Ilartman) was present, and the chief steward (Davis) was also present. He was detailed by his 0.0. to report to the captain of the Pakeha. He would be occupied about three hours in making the examination, and was of the opinion that a large number of the blankets were in a dirty condition. They did not appear to have been washed, and were in a very dusty condition. The blankets in the centre of the bundles were, in his opinion, unclean, and a large number of them had never been washed. (Proceeding.)