RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, GREYMOUTH.

Grey River Argus, Volume IV, Issue 255, 31 August 1867, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, GREYMOUTH.

..-■'■ Thursday, August 29. (Before W. H. Revell, Esq., KM.) P. HJSHIR AND CO. (CHARLESTON) D. GIRDWOOD AND CO. The plaintiffs claimed L6l 7s, the value of a case. of drapery shipped on board the Isabella, at Greymouth, and short delivered. Defendants pleaded not .liable. Mr O'Loughlin appeared for the plaintiffs, arid Mr Rees for the defendants. :f Martin Kennedy, . merchant, r'vGreymouth, deposed that in May last he engaged with Gird wood for a freight of goods to the Pakihi, at 50a per ton, per the Isabella, which vessel Girdwood had chartered— the freight for other shippers was to be L 3 per ton. Witness shipped a case of drapery to Hehir and Co., and got a receipt for it from the mate of the , ship. . The consignee was to payfreight on delivery of the goods. Witness had shipped a quantity of his own. goods, for which he had bill of lading, signed, but \ did not remember if he saw defendant i sign it. He made no arrangement to ship at L 3 per ton for these goods. Girdwood , 'said he had signed" a stamped charter , party with the vessel." Witness did -not send goods through any advertisement of 1 the defendant's: v Martin Kennedy, carter, proved the* , . delivery of the two cases, and the signa- ; tnre of the receipt by the mate, who took charge of all the goods delivered to him. Patrick Hehir, storekeeper, Charleston, proved that he received invoice of two cases goods from Kennedy-Bros., but only received one case by the Isabella, and had heard nothing of the missing case since, i He applied to Mr Girdwood's agent at Charleston for the case, but he said he knew nothing of it. Martin Kennedy, re-called, produced a copy of the invoice, to .Hehir. The goods were packed in cases marked PH. No note went with the goods "on board ; i the ticket was sent to Hehir. In witness's opinion the mate's receipt is binding on the ship as-far "as the delivery of the goods, to the vessel. ' «. Mr.Rees, for the defendant, moved for a nonsuit, on the grounds : Ist, that Girdwood, as charterer of the vessel, was not liable, but the owner. 2nd, the evidence showed negligence on the part of both shippers and consignees. 3rd, that there was no contract between the parties. The learned Council argued the points at 1 length, but the case was allowed to proceed. : ■ . ; D. Girdwood, the defendant in this action, said he saw Mr Kennedy about taking goods up to Charleston by the Isa- / bella. Kennedy shipped a large quantity, J ■ and -witness signed bills,of lading for him. § - He required bills of lading for all the goods / L . Kennedy shipped. Told Kennedy ttefiL/& . he (defendant) had chartered the xffißuFj^ (charter produced) himself, and ask||«r// i | freight Witness never authorjiwHF f k person to sign for him for any g9MSW/ M had he told Kennedy that th#<|uflt ' M 1 mate could sign for goods^oi^ra^^ ' wood). First heard about||]^|Sj^ . weeks after the veßso^&st&tjfßp ' said one case was miasingiMj^E bill of lading for these ca^^^" appear on the ship's manifest debited Mr Hehir -or Kennedys ; freight for the goodsv^^|f^|,l ; Cross-iexamined : "Did not know how >■ they were landed at Charleston; they i- ought to have appeared on the sliip's i manifest. Witness had chartered a por- ; - tion of the vessel. It was the duty of the captain or mate of the . vessel to sign receipts. Witness .had an agent at Charleston, Mr M'Lean, who acted as agent for the ship and generally. Had known it to occur that goods had been shipped and not put on the manifest. It is the agents; duty to look after goods landed if -riot claimed, but not to be on the ' beach and ta<e charge of cargo when landed. The agent gives, the captain . receipts for all goods sent by him on bill of lading. The captain represents- the ship's owner— he did not representwitness in the case. The captain could have taken freighc for himself . Witness chartered all the vessel except the poop. The poop deck' and all cabin accommodation were for the benefit of the owner. John M'Lean, agent for Girdwood and Co. at Charleston : The Isabella .came to Charleston with goods in June. ; He only knew the goods by the freight-list, which he took with him to pass them. There was no entry of two cases drapery, and did not know that two such cases were on board the vessel. The freight-list was made out by witness from the bills of lading. . , Cross-examined : Recollected plaintiff asking about the two cases, a producing a receipt. He claimed one on the beach, /.which witness did not know at the ftune belonged to the Isabella's cargo until he saw the receipt. He gave a receipt for this c;-83 'to the captain to enable him to get Ms charter-money. Witness was in Greymouth when the vessel was loading, but did not know whether the captain took any freight on his own account. Mr Rees strongly urged that no ,case had been made out against his clients the liability, if any, belonging to the ship and not to the charterer. For the plaintiffs it was contended that by the agreement made by Girdwood with Kennedy for the latter to get him- freight, the caaes shipped by Kennedy were on Girdwood's account. The mate's receipt had been given in the same way as-it had been given for Kennedy's own goods for which bills of lading had been given. The Magistrate took the plaintiffs view of the case, and gave a verdict for the plaintiffs for L 5 0125, and costs; -„-/ Mr Rees immediately gave notice of appeal. Thomas Joyce v. Fair and M'Coy, ~""* Charleston. Claim^ LBO 6s sd, being a balance due to plaintiff on. ah account ' stated. 'Defendants pleaded a -set-off to the amount of L 65 6s 3d, made up of the following items .-commission ona sale of some, whisky, 6s ; storage iupon goods stored by plaintiff, at 20s person per week » foe 40 weeks, L4O ; allowaiice on flour' L 4; goods left by plaintiff at oiheitltore and now stored elsewhere, L 21 0s 3d The case, was without interest, being ;a'meua matter of account between the partijl Defendants had dealt largely wrrli -ISr plaintifls, and, had alsoTS goS | r him on commission. The various d™ puted xtems were gone into, and addict given for the plaintiff for L3B 10a 2? •

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