ARREST OF SHIP AT AUCKLAND; CLAIMS FOR DAMAGED CARGO

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 May 1949, Page 6

ARREST OF SHIP AT AUCKLAND; CLAIMS FOR DAMAGED CARGO

AUCKLAND, Last Night (PA).—A warrant of arrest and 3€ writs have been served on the 667 C-ton motorship Lautoka at Auckland following claims by cargo consignees of alleged damage caused to cargo during the voyage of the ship from Sydney to Auckland last year under the name of Salamaua. The writs are stated to invoke more than £12,000 on behalf of 34 consignees and more than £2OOO on behalf of two Government department claims. The representative of the Marshal of the Supreme Court in its Admiralty Jurisdiction (Mr. C. P. Pratt) arrested the ship on one warrant and lashed seven writs to the mainmast of the Lautoka at her berth last Wednesday. Twenty-eight writs were lashed to the mast on Thursday and one on Friday. As the time-honoured custom of nailing the writs could not be carried out with the steel mast, string was used. The original writs were removed shortly after they were placed on the mast and were replaced with copies.

The claims concern alleged damage caused on the voyage which began from Sydney on May 28, 1948, and ended at Auckland on June 3, and the writs are against the ship and all persons interested. The Uautoka is listed to sail for Melbourne on Thursday and, although the warrant of arres* serves to detain her pending the hearing of the claims by the Supreme Court in Admiralty Jurisdiction, she can be released if security is given. Built at Glasgow in 1920, the Lautoka is one of the few large ships registerd at Suva.