NOT TOO OLD AT 75

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 11, 4 September 1931, Page 4

NOT TOO OLD AT 75

AGE OF LINER'S CAPTAIN . SHIPOWNERS WIN APPEiAL. At what age do a man's faculties fail,*and is a fhaii too old a-t 75 to cdmmana, a liner? These were the questions diaeussed- . in the appeal in the Admiralty Divlsiottal Gourt hy the Nelson Ste-am Navigation Company against a flnding of the Board of Trade inquiry in eOnnection with the loss of their liner Highland Hope, .which was lost off the coast of Portugal on November *19 last. The flnding challenged by the company was as f ollows " The court considers that the ownSPS can'Tiot h'e". absolved from all blame for this ca-sualty • in that they employed , a-s ma-ster- of their ship a- riian- whose . age was such that he could not reasonahiy be expected" to withstand the mental and physical strain involved in commandihg a large and fa-st passetiggr' ship." ' • Th'e- certiflcate of the master, Gaptain -Thomas Johnson Jones, was suspended fot six months. * Mi- Pilcher, for the Boar-d of Trade, ' stated tha-t as far as he could flnd fhere was.no evddenee directed to the point whether Gaptain Jones, because he was 75, was inco-mpetent to com- , mand the Highland Hope, '[ L-ord Merrivale : Does this becomO an inquiry whether there is -a presumptioh of latv that a' man of 75 Should be put out, of action? " ! Adequately Manned. Mr Pilcher mentioned that there was a flnding that the ves-sel was adequately' and -sufflciently. manned. Mr Dickinsou, fdr'the owners, stated that the flnding of- the coiirt had been : made on the hare -fact thit: Gaptain : Jones was 75. ; .'At what age did a man's facUlties • fail? When he . read the . newspapers in the case the parallel he had in mind was that of Mr Gladstone's last administrati-on. (Mr Gladstone was 82 when : he : took offlce for the last -time in 1892. He retired' in 1894 at the age df 84). ■ • Lord Merrivale: Mr Gladstone was : Well ahle to fell oalcs at| Hawarden at that time. .- . . - 1 In giving" judgment, Lord Merrivale remarked that the fact that Gaptain Jones was -75 was in -. substance the only hasfs of, the flnding against 'tfie ; owners.. "The flnding, therefore, ' amounts to this," he continued, " that ! to employ a man of 75 as ma-ster Of ; a vesSel like the Highland Hope was atf act of negligence Of the ownera which invOlved'them in bla-me fdr her ■loss;"- All t-he witnesses had given Gaptain -Jones an exceptionally fine i character. " In modern times," went on Lord Merrivale, "we have known men whose years have gone beyond 75 Who have : held such positions as that of Prime Minister and Primate of England, and Ihe heads of great commercial undertakiiigs, 'and they have rendered -service which it is a man's business to rendSr ifl his circumstahces of life so long as he can, Condemned Unheard. ' " Here there was no charge against : the owners and no opportunity of defence, hecaUSe the owners were not aware that there was supposed to.be a -charge. That being so, the appeal must be allowed, because the owners had been condemned unaceused and unhear.d. * - " There was a flnding that the owners were to blame for having a master of 75. There was another flnding that the ship wa-s properly manned and » equipped. How they stand t-ogether puzzles me' to explain." i Mr Jiistice Langton concurred, He added that the real cau-se of the los$ 0'f the vessel- was over-confldence by^ the master and his offlcers. j