ALLEGED ASSAULT AT SEA

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21508, 22 November 1939, Page 6

ALLEGED ASSAULT AT SEA

DAMAGES CLAIM RAISES POINT OF L..W By Telegraph—Hr ess Association WELLINGTON, November 21. Whether the Supreme Court of New Zealand in its c< 'acity as the Adm: city Court has jurisdiction over an alleged assault on a British wem i by an American steward on an American ship was a point of law brought to the Supreme Court to-day before the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers The assault was alleged to have taken place on the Monterey between Honolulu and Auckland and the plaintiff. Mrs Rose Mabel Hamilton, widow of Wellington, claimed damages of £lOOO from the Monterey. The steward named in the writ was Michael MeDonough. The action before the Court to-day was a motion by Mr H. P. Richmond (Auckland) acting for the ship, that the action of Mrs Hamilton be struck out. Mr W. P. Rollings, for the plaintiff, opposed the motion. Mr Richmond submitted that the Court had no jurisdiction to deal with an offence committed entirely within an American ship on the high seas Such an offence was entirely within the law of the flag. The owners cf tnt ship were not within New Zealand territory and had not submitted to jurisdiction. In reply to his Honour, Mr Richmond said if the steward himself were in New Zealand a personal action might be possible, but the authorities were confu-d on that point. Mr Rollings contended that when the ship arrived in New Zealand waters she came "nder t— jurisdiction of the Court of Admiralty. After hearing legal argument, his Honour reserved his decision.