NO TRUCE

NZ Truth, Issue 1211, 14 February 1929, Page 1

NO TRUCE

Shook Hands In Vain (From "N.Z. Truth's" Christchurch Rep.) •■■-., To most men the hand shake after an argument is a sacred bond of truce, but to William Luddon, a ship's fireman, it means nothing. AN argument which arose on the Pakura, at Lyttelton, some days ago, between Luddon and Oswald Robert Cozene, the vessel's second engineer, resulted m blows, and the two participants Avere the only eyewitnesses of what happened. , After hearing 'all the. facts the bench dismissed the case. • Luddon had been given a job by the defendant to clean some tubes m the engine-room and was later accosted by Cozene, who accused him of not having done the work.; A wordy argument ensued be- .; twee n the men,, which developed * into blows before the chief engineer came between them. Luddon alleged that Cozene was the aggressor, but this was denied by the officer. Whoever took the initiative did not really matter as apologies were tendered, arid the men shook hands and agreed to forget the incident. Luddon, however, had no idea: of laying a charge until he got ashore where pressure was brought to bear . upon him and it was alleged that the secretary of the firemen's union had influenced him m bringing Cozene to, court. The magistrate, Mr. H. A. Young, remarked that there was no principle involved, and it was a matter which should have been settled m the stokehold, and should never have been brought to waste the time of the court.