LAW REPORTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2322, 2 December 1914, Page 9

LAW REPORTS

SUPREME COURT CLAIM AGAINST UNION S.S. COY. ALLEGED NEGLIGENGE The hearing of the claim brought by Luoinda Caldwell, of Petone, against the Union Steam Ship Co., Ltd., for £2000 damages, for alleged negligence, was continued yesterday, before His Honour Mr. Justice Edwards. The plaintiff is the widow of a wharf labourer named Thomas .Caldwell, who met with a fatal accident while working on the s.s. Maitai in March last. Mr. A. Gray, K.C., with Mr. E. J. Fitzgibbon, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. T. M. Wilford, with Mr. P. Levi, appeared for the defendant company. The case for the plaintiff was closed with several witnesses who gave technical evidence on the manufacture, and lasting qualities of ropes. The first witness for the defence'was Thomas Kerwin, who was hatchman at the No. 1 hold of the Maitai oil the day of the. accident. Ho said that it was his duty to see that all the men kept out of the road when the gear was in motion. His custom was to warn the men underneath at. every hoist. He usually sang out: "Stand from under," or "Get out of the road." On the occasion on which, the rope broke, he had given the men warning to stand clear before he took the weight. The load came up steadily, and was just about to swing towards the wharf when the sling broke. Deceased and Bradley, another had no right to move out from the wings while the sling was in the square of the' hatch. Cross-examined witness said many men did come out before the hatchway was clear. An experienced man would not do it. • John Curry, labour foreman for the Union Company, said that a quarter of an hour before the accident occurred, he had warned a man named Trundle to stand from under the sling, in the same hold as deceased was working in. He had known of brand new ropes breaking the first time of using, with a much smaller weight than the "breaking strain" weight for -uch a rope. For ,that reason the men were warned to stand clear when the slings were going up. Cfoss-oxamined the witness said that ho did not know whose duty it was to examine the slings. He supposed it was the duty of the captain. He admitted that men would go out into the square of the hatches when 6lings were going up . Mr. Gray: Is it not common knowledge that anyone could go down to the wharf and see it any day a ship is loading? Witness: You might go down for a week and not sea it. . Mr. Gray: And you might see it any day? Witness: Yes. Mr. Gray: Is it not a fact that the slinks are used till they are useless? Witness: Absolutely ridiculous. Technical evidence wns also called for tlm defence on ,the quality of roues. The case was not concluded when the Court rose for the day. It will be continued this ..morning.