“Treasure Trove.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3743, 26 January 1907, Page 4

“Treasure Trove.”

The phrase, “ Treasure Trove,’’ has an agreeable significance to the worshippers of Mammon. It conjures, in the mind, visions of wealth lying in remote corners, involving, in the salving thereof, expeditions, fraught with peril and adventure calculated to fire the imagination. But these ventures, it must he remembered, have a legal aspect which is not generally taken into account. For instance, a correspondent, who seeks finality to an argument in which he is at present involved, as to whether the salvors of the Elingamite’s derelict gold are entitled to the whole or a percentage of the salvage, asks ns to state the legal position of this particular cargo. It is 'this : —“ Derelict cargo, if salved, is vested in the captain of the wrecked ship, or in the event of his disappearance, in the Collector of Customs, in his official capacity as Receiver of Wrecks.” There are then two ways in which the question of salvage may he settled. The underwriters and 1 others who are interested, may agree, with the approval of the Receiver of Wrecks, upon a certain basis of division, ascertained by a general average, by which, let us say, 80 per cent goes to the salvors, and 20 per cent to the remaining interests. On the other hand, the salvors may put forward a claim which, in the opinion of the others, is exorbitant. The matter is then carried to the Admiralty Court and settled by arbitration.— Post.