RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4316, 20 January 1875, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT.

Tuesday, January 19. ' (Before J. C. Crawford, Esq., R.M.) BREACH OF BYE-LAWS. ■William Dodsworth, for leaving his horse and cart unattended in a public thoroughfare, was fined 10s. and costs. DESTITUTE PERSONS ACT. Charles James was charged with refusing to contribute towards the maintenance of his wife and family. He was ordered to pay 20s. per week into court. - : CIVIL CASE. ' MASTER OF JIWG FBATJ V. AGENTS OP J9.S. EASBY. Claim, £lO,. for damage sustained by the Jung Fran, caused by the s.b. Easby on the 6th instant. . . - ' Captain Scotland conducted his own case ; Mr. Moorhouse appeared for the agents and owners of the steamer Easby. William Scotland deposed that he was master of the barque Jung Frau, which was moored at the end of the wharf on the sth iiißtant, when the Easby came alongside aind moored in contact with the Jung Trail's port gratings. He believed the Easby was ordered - toe shift by the Harbor-master. The movementer of the vessels on the following day split the Jung Frau's covering board on the port quarter. The damage sustained would take £lO to repair. It was, before damaged by the Easby, in good condition. The defendant moored the steamer in that position. By Mr. Moorhouse : Ho had no quarter gallery, but there were bumpkins for main braces, composed of round iron 3 inches diameter and 18 inches long. It did not project outside covering board. There are no channels or chain pipes. The damage had not yet been-repaired; and he did not state that he did not intend to repair it. It is possible to get a knife into the split, and the timber is gone in several places. One piece woidd have to come out altogether; and he thought he could not get it repaired here under £2O, The claim sent in is what he estimated the repairs would cost in London, and if put in by a ship's carpenter. Captain Halliday considered the charge which had been made insufficient to repair tho damage sustained. The timber and materials would hero alone cost £lO. Fenders were over his port side, and hisbow extended 40 feet over the end of the T. Captain John Halliday deposed that he was Harbor-master for the port of Wellington. The steamer Easby catrio alongside the wharf on the evening of the fith January. Ho asked Captain Kennedy to turn his vessel round, so that she might lie alongside the wharf, but he answered to the effect that she was all right. There was a little damage done to the barque, and when he was showed tho amount claimed, £3 10s., he considered it very reasonable, and

wrote on it to that effect. The Easby sailed at 4 p.m. on the 6th, and she had not shifted her berth in the meantime. By Mr. Moorhouse: Captain Kennedy had told him that the ship could not be secured if she were turned round. As Harbor-master he had no authority to keep the berth now occupied by the Jung Frau for steamers; but he had power to berth a vessel or to order a vessel away from a berth. There were ten or twelve feet of covering board damaged—split or torn. He considered the Easby would have been perfectly secure had she been lying alongside the wharf. Melbourne steamers generally get stem on to wind. ■ Alexander Cowie, the carpenter of the Jung Frau, deposed that to repair damage would take a week's labor. Mouldings and belaying-pin rail were carried away. He estimated the damage at £lO. By Mr. Moorhouse: He did not advise the captain that £3 10s. would repair the damage. The captain had asked him if it would, but he replied that he could not tell. Mr. Moorhouse pointed out that the Jung Frau was occupying a berth usually allotted to steamers trading to the port. Although the barque was berthed where she was now lying by the Harbor-master, still her captain might, had he chosen to do so, have avoided any damage by a very slight mechanical exertion. The damage actually sustained, either upon a critical or superficial examination, proved to be nothing like tho amount claimed for. Captain Archibald Kennedy deposed that he was master of the Easby, which he moored alongside the wharf at 8 p.m. on the sth inst., the weather then being very calm. Consistently with working his fore-hatch, he berthed his ship as properly as it could be done. It blew a strong gale on the following day from an unusual direction, viz., N.N.E. The direction of the wind prevented him getting clear of the wharf, but the Jung Fran, which was lying to the leeward of his vessel, could by casting off her lines have dropped out of the way of any danger. He had exercised every care to prevent damage. His Worship, in giving judgment, Baid he was compelled from the evidence to hold the Easby liable for any damage which the barque had sustained. The Harbor-master had instructed Captain Kennedy to turn his vessel round, which was not done, and he therefore held him responsible for the damage done in consequence. The real difficulty was as to the amount of damage done ; and he could not give the plaintiff credit for the manner in which he had brought his case into court. The assessment by the carpenter of the damage sustained appeared to be a mere guess. He would meet the difficulty by giving judgment for half the amount claimed, viz., £5. If the sum were inadequate the complainant was to blame for the style in which he had brought his case into court.