CLAIM FOR £50,000.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 539, 23 August 1932, Page 5

CLAIM FOR £50,000.

Wreck of Kaponga on Grey Bar. OWNERS’ ALLEGATIONS. : ( Special to the •* Star.’*) GREYMOUTH. August 23. I The wreck of the Kaponga on the i Greymouth Bar on Friday, May 27, will | be discussed in Court shortly. The owners, the Union Steam Ship Company, have issued a writ against the Greymouth Harbour Board, claiming nearly £50,000. In the course of the statement of claim the company alleges: ‘‘That the Harbour Master informed the master of the Kaponga that if there was sufficient depth of water on the said bar, ; the ship could safely put to sea at high i water on the afternoon of that day. That, acting and relying upon the in- | formation given to him by the Harbour ; Master, to the effect that there would be I sufficient depth of water over the bar | on the courses usually taken by vesj sels leaving the port, the master of the J plaintiff company’s steamship, Kaponga, proceeded to sea at approxi- ! mately 4 p.m. ■ “ That the negligence of the Harbour Master consisted in: (a) failing to adopt adequate and proper methods of sounding the said bar to ensure that full and | correct information was obtained as to any obstruction on the said bar, which j made the navigation thereof dangerous |to shipping; (b) giving the master of I the Kaponga an assurance that there j would be 21ft 3in of navigation water j in the bar at high water, when he knew i that the ship was drawing 18ft Gin aft, I without having first taken proper prej cautions to test the depth of the water jin the said bar; (c) that the plaintiff j company’s Kaponga was of a value of £47.000. “ The plaintiff company claims to I recover from the defendant board: (a) ! t Ye sum of £47,000; (b) the sum of £2207 I 19s 7d for the expense incurred.” j A claim for £2OO has also been issued | in the Magistrate’s Court by Win stones. Limited, of Auckland, a consignee of the I coal in the Kaponga