SEAMEN IN COURT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19980, 4 July 1939, Page 7

SEAMEN IN COURT

ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE GRIEVANCES VENTILATED MOTOR-SHIP CONDITIONS CONVICTIONS ENTERED (P<ir I’rcss Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. No bath, no wash basin, no shower and no running water in the room described a* a bathroom in the motor <ship Cape Horn, water brought in buckets and the only running water being .salt water for the sanitary conveniences.

These were the conditions on board the vessel, as confirmed Iby the master, Captain Kenneth Malcolm MacKenzie, in the Police Court '.his morning during the hearing of charges against 12 of the crew. They were charged that, on June 26 at Christchurch, having signed on the articles of the British ship Cape Horn at Newcastle-on-Tync, England, they were absent from the vessel without leave at a time the vessel was due to leave Lyttelton, and refused to return to the vessel. All pleaded not guilty.

Mr. L. H. Upham prosecuted on behalf of the owners and Mr. B. A. Barrel- appeared for the men.

Refusal to Return Most of the men signed on at New-castle-on-Tyne and Che Cape Horn called iat Auckland, Wellington and then Lyttelton, said Mr. Upham. The captain notified ithe men on Saturday, June 24, they would be leaving that evening, but .'the men absented themselves and the vessel was unable to leave. The captain arranged through Mr. T. Martin, secretary of the Lyttelton branch of 'the New Zealand Seamen’s Union to meet the men individually, but they all refused to return, ito the ship.

Captain MacKenzie said that on June 23. 'following his promotion to master, a deputation of the men approached 'him saying the ship was undermanned. The marine superintendent at Lyttelton said the ship was manned- and .the men refused to go to sea unless they were granted New Zealand pay and conditions. Last Thursday the captain asked Mr. Martin regarding a meeting with the men, but Mr. Martin said the men had gone to the country on a motor drive.

Replying to Mr. Bnrrer, Captain .MacKenzie said the Cape Horn was owned by a Scottish firm and was chartered by ithe Union Steam Ship Company. He had received no complaints of the food since assuming command. The ship hlad no mess. There had been breaches of the law dealing with accommodation and working conditions, sa'id Mr. Barrer, and. in view of these, he asked the magistrate to refuse to make an order for (the men ito return to the ship. Prepared to Break Law

Thomas Martin, seamen’s union secretary, described .the 'conditions as disgraceful. He would have taken exactly the same stand as the men. Martin, in reply to Mr. Upham, said he fully realised that in aiding the men ,to be absent without leave, he was liable to a fine. He was prepared to break the law to hel.p the men, but he would advise them to return if the conditions were made suitable.

"This has been brewing for eight months and had to come,” said Alexander Cummings. “They would never have stood another 18 months of this. It would have killed half of them.” The Magistrate, Mr. E. C. Levvcy pointed out that the men had signed articles in England and /it was significarit that, although the ship had ■been in 'New/ 'Zeal'a-nd waters for Some time, mo trouble had arisen •until the vessel reached Lyttelton. All Seemed 1 to be decent men and it was a pity they had put themselves outside the law. He suggested the men should return to England, sign ■off there and take their troubles to the proper authorities. He entered convictions in each case and ordered them to toe placed aboard the .ship and 'the payment of costs.