IMPORTANT SHIPPING CASE AT AUCKLAND

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 17, 6 January 1863, Page 2

IMPORTANT SHIPPING CASE AT AUCKLAND

(From the 3~'.:w Zcctlander.) Throughout thet whob of the week pint, the Supreme Court lias been occupied with a trinl of n<-» ordinary-commercial aiic. 1 maritime importance —one which has been of unprecedented duration •in the Civil records of New Zealand causes. In ni!2'j-t lost, the bnrcjue Blundell, Captain Lean, arrived from London, after a protracted and ■fctormy passage of 168 dnys. From Ihe day of her entrance at the Customs .until that of her discharge there wns a general out-cry among consignees, both because of iho dilatoriiiess of her discharge.and the ■daKia^cd condition in which the goods were landed, to which was added a complaint that packages were hrukeu aud were short of the.ro invoiced oontonc. This was a grievance loudly and bitterly complained of, but for which there was no seeming redress save by appeal to the costly and doubtful process oi law. Among the sufferers by the Blundel, Mr Mark fjomervillc was one of the heaviest, and with a degree of commercial spirit worthy of the utmost •comtneiuhjtion, he determined to kring in's cau<e [Under the investigation of the constituted tribunals —to determine 'whether he was to receive lnoivhancfise shipped in good order and condition in London, and not exposed to such contingencies as arise from the Queen's enemies and other exceptional ■c.bros&s, much damaged and short o-f quantity, without dm; compensation, in the port of Auckland. The trial, a3 we have already remarked. has been a long one; the evidriK-<: adduced wus voluminous and conflict in?, as well in a geiK-nd ■us in a technical point of view; but tl >c? result, as ■declared by the verdict of an able and intelligent Special Jury, has constituted (ms we think) a most Tjcneficial precedent, for the guidance as well ot flbipbrokers, shipmasters, shippers and consignees, such as cannot fail to insure a hotter order in commercial relations than those of which the mercantile population of Auckland have so frequently itad hitter groH-nds to complain. By the verdict of Saturday, ship-masters have been placed in the position oi' ■common carriers, whose bounden duly it is to see that their vehicles are in fit and sound condition to convey gcods •wh-en received, and tnke every possible care to keep them in that condition duving their transit, «nd so to deliver them at their port of discharge. In the present case, the Jury decided that the goods had not so been cared for, and that the ship had not been sufficiently attended to to enable her contract to be fulfilled. May the lesson thus •taught be productive of future caution -, and congratulating the commercial community on a subject of so much importance, we beg particularly to express our admiration of the public spirit evinced by Mr. Pomerville in adventuring upon a question of so much legal danger and doubt,