LAW REPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1522, 19 August 1912, Page 2

LAW REPORTS.

. j SUPREME COURT. DECISION RE CARLA CHARTER' NO BREACH OF CONTRACT. Reserved judgment was delivered on Saturday morning, in ail action for damages, heard in tho Supremo Court last Wednesday,;before,Mr.. Justice Chapman, tho subject matter, of the caso being negotiations that had been entered into for the charter of a sailing-vessel to carry timber cargoes from Wanganui to Sydney. Tho mam question was as to whether there was any actual contract. The parties wero Ijasson. Ltd., timber merchants,, of Kilbiruie.,plaintiffs, and' A:'Hatrick.and Co., Ltd., merennnts,'of Wnnganui. At tbo hearing, Mr. X. ;\, Jlolmden appeared for tho plaintiffs, and Mr. C. B. Monson uppearou iur tho doiendants. hi tho statement of claim it was set out that by an agreement, entered into between tho parties in the. month of February, 1912, and contained in letters and telegrams dated. February 1-1, IG, 17, 18, 19,. anil 20, Hatrick and Co. agreed to charter to Easson, Ltd., tho sailing vessel Carln (then loading at Wellington, for a first trip to Sydney). Tho charter -was to be'for tho second'and three following . consc.cutivo trips from Wuugamii to Sydney, or Newcastle, for four cargoes of seasoned 'whito piuo timber, at a freight of 2s.,(id. per 100 super feet. By letters and telegrams in March, Hatrick and Co. had repudiated the charter, and had declined to carry out their contract. Easson, Ltd., had always been, and were still, willing to charter tho Carln 1 in terms of tho original contract. Acting upon the contract, Easson, Ltd., had purchased from various'parts o ftho North Island timber to bo delivered f.o.b. at Wanganui, to be shipped by the Carla to Sydney, contracts' having been entered into for its (■ale at the latter port.' In order to fulfil these latter contracts, Ensson, Ltd., had now to pay freight of 4s: -kl. per 100 super feet for. shipment of the, timber from Wanganui to Sydney. Otherwise the firm would'suffer loss of anticipated profits, and would render themselves liable for breach' nf contract. For these reasons, ,Eassoh, Ltd., claimed .£'9lo Us.-'M. damages, being tho difference of freights payable under the contract with Hatrick and Co., and the freights now prevailing. In tho alternative, they claimed the same sum as damages iucurred by reason of loss of profits and liability for breach of contract. ■ By way of defence Hatrick and Co. denied having entered, into any contract, and contended that the letters and telegrams referred to in the claim were merely preliminary negotiations,, it being intended that a formal charter party-should be drawn up aniFexecuted. Hatrick and Co. also said that a charter party in terms of the agreement had been tendered to Easson, Ltd., who declined to accept it, refusing to agree to the essential part of the contract, viz., the subject matter of the cargo—"seasoned" white pine. In the course of his judgment , his Hononr stated that-he had com© to tho conclusion that it was- not contemplated that tho contract should rest on the correspondence between the parties, but that what both companies intended was that a regular charter .party should have,been, drawn up to complete. Plaintiff company was first to ask for this charter party.and would have run n risk in dispensing with it. nis Honour was satis-' iied that the parties never got beyond negotiations and that tho defendant company was justified in the course it took.' Judgment, was accordingly given for defendant company with costs. COMPENSATION MONEYS. AND HOW,TO APPORTION THEM. . A rather unusual point was involved in n case decided by a reserved judgment delivered in the Supreme Court on Saturday morning. -Tho action was brought for the purpose • of obtaining] n declaration under tho Deaths by Accidents Compensation Act, 1908, as to how to deal with compensation moneys received under

that Act. Tho plaintiff in the action was the Public Trustee as administrator of tho estate of William Henry Brewer, wharf labourer, Into of Opium, Christ- | church. The defendants were Violet Maud Brewer, widow, of Christchurch, and;' William Lewis Brewer and Clara Grace Brewer, infant children of tho deceased, AV. 11. Brewer. ■At the'hearing .Air. .T. W. Macdonald appeared for tho Public Trustee, while Mr. D. M. Findlny appeared fev the guardian ad litem of the infant children. Mrs;. Brewer submitted to judgment. William Henry- Brewer, wharf labourer, Opawa, died onJune ]fi, 1011, as tho result of an accident, sustained on the Lyttolton Wharf. .The deceased died intestate, leaving only lift? -insurance, moneys, and tho Public Trusteo took out administration to hi.s estate. The deceased left a widow (Violet Maud Brewer) and two children. (William Lewis Brewer, born November If), 1907, and Clara Grace Brewer, bom ,luly (i, 1910). His employer offered the Public. Trusteo compensation under the Workers' Com-' ponsation Act, 1008, that being the maximum amount recoverable, but the Public Trustee was advised to refuse the offer, and proceed under the Months by Accident Compensation Act, 1003 (Lord Campbell's Act). Eventually tho claim was compromised without Court notion, for ,£•700. Mr. Justice Chapman, who heard'the case, mado an order, the elfeet of which was to grnnt to the widow one-third of the comiM?nsnlion money, and to the children two-thirds, with right nf survivorship and certain other conditions. SLANDER CASE. JUDGMENT FOB PLAINTIFF ENTERED. Mr. Justice ,E<lwards ,on Saturday, dealt with nil application to enter np judgment, for plaintiff in the slander action, Hcod v. Braid and Griffiths and Co., in which the jury on Thursday awarded Hood ■£250 damages. Mr. D. M. Findlay nnponred for Hood, while Mr. F. J. Fitzgibbon, on b«~!alf of the defendants, consented to judgment, which was accordingly entered with costs. A motion for a new trial was mentioned and it was agreed that the matter should remain as by agreement between counsel.