THE Grey River Argus, PUBLISHED DAILY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1987, 18 December 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus, PUBLISHED DAILY FRI DAY, DECEMBER 18, 1874.

We should be sorry to think that the enterprising owners of the steamers plying between Melbourne aad New Zealand, had any special reasons for the great negJecj; of this pprfc which has latterly been noticeable. It certainly cannot bejto the interests,of Messrs Rl'Meckan andßlackwood that the port which transacts the largest- amount of business with Mel.bourne, should be practically ignored without a shadow of an excuse. Bat whoever may be in fault, the fact remains that the steaiters do not pay a proper amount of attention to Greymouth. Yesterdayvfnf instance, the Tararua steamed past this port, although -there were aboub a .d«zen_. persoiis here waiting for a paasa«e. . The tide certaiu)y did not a>iit vxactly. at the time, but a delay of at the niO3t , three hours would liHve sufficed to allow of the steamer ,' ; hfin«j -tetideied.- The Tararua was communirafed with by signals to the -ct that sh-! could be tendered in an hour «ir. tw'oy' but' no i»otic« was . takttn : of the signals, and she passed on contempt.n- : 1 phblji V Now, 'what possible gain did thecaptajn think he' could niike by re.'fiVsing. to w^it }wo or three hour? here ? did not bring an English mail, and withr.the fine .weather pr«yioußly. he could j have no special reason for •reaching Blind 'Bay-> .before , the > tide jsuitrd fur, liim to :enter;NeJs ; "n harbor. ::iWe- expect .toi learn that, the Tararua either ateamed; 'slowly,, Up^th/e coast, anchor for several hpurs Jn,, the ..roadstead, of Blind Bay, Piissibly^he'captSm' may be able-to excuse •* ; himse'lf \by staHnii in explanation that his ship, was short of grouml lacklp, had only' a small raw crew, was- almost destitute of .prpvisions, and. of course under such cirenms'tances' it was impossible fur him to , waste -,-any time in picking yip. passengers that would only have added to existing difficulties. Such, we presume,;, is/. about the only possible satisfactory explanation tbat'eanbamade, and' if.it turns out that, •we have really -hit upon the real reasons for the Tarafua's extraoi'dinary conduct, the - public wiJl heartily sympathise '. with ■ the - owners. : But. we are ' afraid that the captain alone is to blamefor the steamer neglecting to wait at this port;a .•reasonable;.:time, and we must protest strongly against .the convenience of passengers .at Greymouth being thussaenfioed-tu tjie whim of any single person. Greymouth has always well. supported "M'Meckan and Blaclcwood's steamer^fboth in .goods and passengers. The freight" list of the line will show that Greymouth stands higher than Hokitika, and yet it is becoming rather a ; settled thing that once Hokitika is reached ! port may be left out in the cold. | This iB the state of things that we think i the local agents shnuld brpg before the owners without <lelay. It cannotpossi^ly benefit th«m— the reverse we should think ' —that passengers should be left behind, and a feeling of " want of confidence^ created in the ; jhinds of the travelling public. We Wlieve that the proprietors are legally liable for damages for taking passage monies and leading persons to. understand that, wind and weather permitting, the steamers would call here ; and-pogsibly. it would be advisable for some of those who: have been aggrieved by losing their, passages to bring an action to test the question. Apropos ot this subject, we may remark that only recently an action was brought uvEngland against a railway company by a music master for the cost of cab hire entailed upon him by

the unpunctuality of one of the company's trains The company pleaded that they were not liable because the tickets bore a condition that the company were not responsible f<»r delays, i&c. But the Judge, Mr Rnssel Gurney, "'ruled that these printed conditions only protected the company against delays occasioned by accident, and that they were bound, after having taken the price of a ticket, and notified a particular time of departure and arrival, to use all care and diligence in observing the times specified. The company lost the action, and it has, we observe, been now regarded as a test casei The agents of ihe Melbourne steamers issue ticke<s here which no doubt contain conditions which apparently absolve the owners from any responsibility with regard to embarking t.e passengers, but there is an implied contract that except linger circumstAnces over which the owners or their captiins can have no cnnirol the steamers shall wait a reasonable time here, and that due diligence shall ba taken to place the passengers on board. In the case of the Tararna. yesterday, there was no possible excuse for her goin^ on without calling. The weather was*fine, there was a calm sea, the tug could have served her in the course of a couple 'of hours, and yet she went on witho>it,as much as acknowledging the* signals addressed to her. We hope that one of these who lost their passage yesterday will bring an action against the owners, if only for the purpose of fixing the responsibility of the neglect of this port upon the proper shoulders. The agents here are in no wise s to blame, they nse^'everycteffort to advance tlie" public convenience and the interests of the owners, it is the captains who are in fault, and we should like to ask Messra M'Meckan and Blackwood if they think it is conducive to their interests that an important port like Grey month should be Btudiously neglected. - We presume that these gentlemen are we'l-informed as to the business done relatively by Hokitika and Greymoutli, but we may just refer incidentally to the facts, that durinsr the twelve months ended June 30, 1374, the imports from Victoria to the port of Greymonth amoonted to £159,568 as against £156,468 at Hokitika, and that the exports for the same period to Victoria amounted to £317,416 from Greymouth as . against ,£238,766 from Hokitika. We mention these things because this port is being treated very unfairly, and we want to know the reason why.