RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4129, 15 June 1874, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE’S COURT.

Saturday, Jure 13. (Before J. 0. Crawford, Esq., E.M.) Assault.— John O’Sullivan was charged with assaulting Sarah Holmes, the landlady of a boarding-house at Kaiwarra, at which the prisoner resided. The prisoner, it appeared, went home drunk one night last week and violently assaulted Mrs. Holmes. The case for the prosecution being incomplete, the prisoner was remanded till Monday. CIVIL CASE. (Before J. 0. Crawford, Esq., E.M., and C. J. Pharazyu, Esq., J.P.) Williams v. Anderson and Strachan.—The plaintiff in this case is Mr. W. R. Williams, owner of the barque Anne Melhuish, the defendant Anderson is harbor pilot, and the defendant Strachan captain of the ship Golden Sea. The suit was brought to recover £2O for damage sustained by the barque through collision with the Golden Sea, which vessel was at the time in charge of Pilot Anderson, who was bringing her up to a berth at the wharf. Repairs to the barque to the extent of £l6 had been effected by Captain Strachan, who considered himself entitled to recover that amount from one or other of the parties concerned, so that the case was strangely complicated. The object of the present suit really was to recover £l, the cost of a survey held upon the barque’s masts after the accident. Captain Davidson, master of the Anne Melhuish, stated that hia vessel was properly moored alongside the McCallurn More when the accident happened. The Golden Sea was being brought round to a berth, and as she had a good deal of way on and was not checked in time, she shot across and ran into the Anne Melhuish, carrying away the backstays and twisting one of the masts round. As it was possible the mast might he sprang, he should not have felt justified in going to sea without having it examined ; to do so, would simply he to jeopardise the lives of the crew. In an interview with Captain Strachan, the latter stated that he had a pilot on board at the time, and that as the ship was in the pilot’s charge, he did not hold himself responsible for any damage done. Hr. Gordon Allan said the defence simply amounted to this : that Captain Strachan was bound by law to take a phot on board ; that he accepted the services of Mr, Anderson, who was sent on board by the Harbor Master ns a duly authorised pilot ; that Mr. Anderson assumed command of the ship, and that therefore Captain Strachan could not be hold liable. These facts were home out by Captain Strachan, who stated that Pilot Anderson was introduced to him by Captain Holliday, the Harbor Master, as a didy authorised pilot, and that ho (Anderson) then assumed command of the ship to take her to a berth at the wharf. At the request of Captain Davidson ho had the barque's backstays repaired, but he distinctly stated at the time that he did not admit any liability, and that, although ho was willing to advance the amount necessary to defray the cost, the liability would ultimately have to be decided by law. John Anderson stated that he was a licensed pilot for the harbor" of Wellington, and pro-

duced the license under which he acted. [The license was signed by the Superintendent and was framed iu these words, “ I hereby authorise you to act as harbor pilot,” &c.] Cross-examined by Air. Travers : A boat in charge of one man put off with a hawser to check the way of the ship, but it did not reach the buoy iu time to prevent the Golden Sea running into the Anne Melhuish. If the hawser had reached the buoy in time the accident would have been avoided. The certificate produced was the only one witness held, and if a license had been demanded, he could not have produced one. Before being appointed pilot he passed an examination before Captain Holliday aud Captain Johnson. After witness took charge of the ship, Captain Strachan did not interfere in any way. Captain Holliday, Harbor Master, stated that at the request of Captain Strachan, he sent Air. Anderson on board the Golden Sea as an authorised harbor pilot, for the purpose of bringing the ship up to a berth at the wharf. Cross-examined by Air. Travers : Anderson passed an examination before witness aud Captain Johnson before receiving his appointment, but they were not officially instructed to make that examination. As competent men he aud Captain Johnson merely wished to satisfy themselves that Anderson was fitted to HU the position, and finding he was competent they appointed him. Air Travers said he was not prepared to contend that the master of a ship, having a duly authorised pilot on board, was liable if the damage done was done by the pilot, while acting within the scope of his duty, but the essential point which the master had to consider was whether or not he was employing a properly appointed pilot. The mere fact of a person acting as pilot was presumptive evidence of his appointment, but if it became necessary, he is bound to show whether or not he was a properly appointed pilot; he is bound to show that he holds his appointment in strict accordance with the provisions of the law. When Pilot Holmes was appointed pilot, he was gazetted as a person “ duly certified and qualified to act as pilot,” and it was absolutely necessary that every person so acting should have a certificate of competency or license. The 15th section of the Act said, that every pilot who was at the time of the commencement of the Act, legally licensed to act as pilot, should continue to be a pilot under the Act; but with regard to persons appointed subsequently to the passing of the Act, it was necessary that a certain course should be passed, through. The 13th section stated that no person should be appointed pilot at any port of the Colony, unless he shall have first passed an examination, to be prescribed by the Governor, and shall hold a license or certificate of competency, Waiviug some minor technical points, he cante to this important fact that Anderson had never been examined by anybody appointed by the Governor for that purpose, and that he held no license or certificate of competency entitling him to act as pilot. He did not question Air. Anderson’s competency ; he merely wished to point out to the Bench what the law said upon the matter. The Act stipulated that a captain of a ship was “bound to accept the services of a pilot,” who “must produce his license,” “which must be a certificate of competency issued by the Board of Examiners.” This being the case then, it was clearthat Anderson, though acting with perfect bona fates was not dc facto a pilot, and that at the time of the accident he was not such a person as the master was bound to hand his ship over to. He contended, therefore, that the captain was not exempt from liability for injury while the vessel was in charge of a person not properly appointed ; and, secondly, he maintained that even if he were a properly appointed pilot he was not acting within the scope of his duty by bringing the vessel to the wharf, which was private property, the owners of which might, if they choose, refuse to allow her to be brought there at all. In observance of his duty he was bound only to bring her to the ordinary anchorage. Air. Allan said that his learned friend having conceded the point that it was not necessary that there should be any statutory provision for releasing the defendant from liability if he had a pilot on board, there seemed now to bo very little left to dispute. His friend, however, now contended that the pilot was not on board as a pilot, and that if he were a properly appointed pilot he had exceeded his duty in bringing the vessel to the wharf. "With this latter point’they had nothing whatever to do. When entering a port the master of a ship was bound to take a pilot, and the pilot was bound to take the vessel to her place of destination, which he maintained was the wharf, no matter what the harbor regulations might say to the contrary. As to the legality of Anderson’s appointment, the Act itself empowered the Governor to delegate his powers to the Superintendent, and the appointment from the Superintendent authorising Anderson to act as pilot had been produced ; therefore he must be regarded as a duly licensed pilot in every sense of the word. The Act prescribed no particular form of license ; it did not say by whom the license was to be issued; it was not at all clear upon the point. It said no person should hold the position of pilot unless he held a certificate of competency or license, but there was no magic in the word “license.” “Appointment” and “license,” he held were convertible terms. It was in evidence that Anderson had been duly appointed by the Superintendent, and, unless the Governor revoked it, it held good, and Anderson must be regarded as a duly qualified pilot for the harbor of Wellington. Under these cirmunstances he contended that Captain Strachan had observed the strict letter of the law by taking a pilot on board his ship, that that jjilot had been duly and properly appointed, and that Captain Strachan was not therefore liable for the consequences of any accident which resulted while his ship was in the pilot’s charge. Air. Crawford, in delivering the verdict of the Bench, said the only point in which they agreed with the counsel for the plaintiff was in the matter of the appointment of the pilot, and he must say for himself that that objection seemed to be fatal to the defendant’s case. The Act clearly stipulated that a person must pass an examination before a Board of Examiners, to be appointed by the Governor, before he obtained a pilot’s license. The document produced by Anderson was not a license, it was merely a letter of appointment, which did not constitute him a duly qualified pilot. The consequence of his non-possession of the certificate of competency was simply this : that both he and the master of the Golden Sea were liable at common law for the damage done by the accident. Judgment would therefore be for US 10h., and costs, £2 7h., virtually a verdict for £4, and costs, Captain Strachan having paid for the damage to the Anno Aidfinish.

His Worship said he hoped the Government would take steps to remedy tho position in which tho harbor pilot stood. Mr. Travers said ho was glad, in tho puhlio interest, that the matter had come before tho Court.” He would not for one moment cast a doubt upon the competency of Mr. Anderson, hut strictures had been passed upon the management of the affairs of the port, and it was advisable that all undesirable features in that management should he removed. Tile Court then adjourned.