ACTIONS AGAINST MR. PLIMSOLL.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 185, 17 July 1873, Page 3

ACTIONS AGAINST MR. PLIMSOLL.

In the Court of Queen's Bench on April 21, the AttorneyGeneral, with whom was Sir John Karslake, QC, Mr "Wntkin Williams Q C , and Mr C. Bowen, applied on belinlfof Mr C. Norwood, M.P for Hull, for a rule, calling upon Mv Plimsoll, M P. lor Derby, to show cause why a criminal information should not be filed against him for libel, for statements contained m arecent work published by Mr Plimsoll, entitled " Our Seamen." Mr Norwood was a large shipowner m London He was the o»uier and part owner of twelve or fourteen steamships engaged in the Mediterranean, Baltic, and China lradrs, and he stated in Ins affidaut that lie had never lost a ship except by stranding or collision, but never from stress of weather alone. He nad ne^er lo^-t a smglo seaman, except in the case of the Livonia. Mr Plimsoll had no doubt published a very interest ing book— one it wos impossible to read without considerable interest and excitement. The object of the book, go far as it was legitimate, was one that must commnnd the assent and respect of everyone — viz, to call attention to •what the author said were the improper practices pursued in the mercantile marine, and to draw attention to many outrageous and abominable acts, many of them criminal, on the part of many shipowners, and the appeal to the public to aid him, either by the obtaining a royal commission or an Act of Parliament to put a stop to the practices described in the book. So far as he merely described them, no one had a right to complain, but Mr Plimsoll had gone further. In ]S6B Mr Noi wood was the managing owner of tome twelve or fouitren large -teamshipg, one of which was the Livonia, which w»s built by Mr La.,g, of Sunderland, who was also pait owner, hhe was built m 1865, under a contract and specification that were set out in the affidavits. She was to be built capable of carrying 1800 tons dead woight, at a cost of £22,500 She went se\ eral voyages, and in September, 18f»9, whilst she was on a to Archangel, Mr Norwood entered into a chatter, whereby on her return she should take n cargo of IGOO tons of railway iron to Cronfitadt, Mr Norwood stipulating the weight of the cargo. On the 23rd September the charter party was signed, and tho flctunl tonnage loaded was 1591 tons. She returned to | London from Aichangel on the 4th October, and, after discharging her cargo, she w/is carefully overhauled Her engines were taken to pieces and examined by Mr Keynolds, the applicant's resident engineer, and also by Mr Bell, the engineer of the ship, and were found to be in perfect order. On the 15th October she sailed from London for Sunderland, where Mr Norwood's personal knowledge of what afterwards occurred ceased, he having left England to be present at the { opening of the Suez Canal. After she got to Sunderland she was loaded under t lie personal superintendence of the captain, and she was most carefully and safely stowed. On October 25 she was unable to get over the sill of the dock, ow ing to its being neap tide, and the heavy weather that bad lately happened, but on the spring tide she got out anfcly, and started on her voyage, drawing 20ft Bin and 18ft Bin forward. She had been seen by Lloyd's agent, tho crew Inew everything tuat occurred, and no living soul had even suggested that she was overloaded or that she was in any way unfit to undertake tho voyage to the Baltic. She sailed on November 2, and, though there was the probability of being blocked in bv ice, there was no more danger in the navigation of the Ba' tic at that time of the year than any other part of the world. After the Livonia started and had proceeded on her voyage, an accident happened to her engines and 3he became unmanageable The court ultimately granted u rule.