Shipping Act Breaches Cost Owners £l40 Fines

Wanganui Chronicle, 25 May 1948, Page 6

Shipping Act Breaches Cost Owners £l40 Fines

(P.A) Auckland, May 24. Fines and costs totalling £l4O were imposed upon R. H. and N. Hammond, former owners, and Henry Percy Stanaway, master of the 291-ton steamer Ruawai, in a reserved judgment issued by the Magistrate, Mr. J. Morlin, today. Eighteen breaches of the Seamen and Shipping Act, on which defendants were conwcted on April 23, included sailing from Opononi three days later in defiance of Marine Department detention orders, failing tp carry a certified master, failing to carry a regulation crew, and failing to carry properly adjusted compasses and life-saving equipment. The magistrate held that endangering the lives of the crew and other major breaches were deliberate. However, certain features somewhat softened the gravity of the charges. Defendants, working men of slender means, had bought the ship, hoping to sell it to the China service but, unable to get a certificate of survey, brought it to Auckland to sell. Aino, the crew, including Stanaway, were volunteers, and defendants did not seem to be foolhardy men.