RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, BLUFF HARBOR.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 86, 1 September 1863, Page 3

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE'S COURT, BLUFF HARBOR.

(Before J. N. Watt, Esq., R.M.) Saturday, 29th August. Civil Case, hayes v. la.wson. This was a case of non-fulfilment of contract on the part of the captain of the schooner Three Sisters, chartered for the Buckingham Family. Amount claimed, L2O. Captain Hayes, master mariner, deposed : I agreed with Captain Bendell, owner of the Three Sisters, at Kiverton, to charter her for a three months' cruise, to take the Buckingham Family, first to the Bluff, and then to the Northern Provinces of New Zealand. I was to pay"£3s per month ; also to provision the vessel for the family, master and crew; the £35 to be paid monthly in advance. Before leaving Pviverton i made arrangements with Captain Bendell to pay the master of the schooner two days after arrival at .the Bluff. I was to insure the vessel at the Bluff or Invercargill. At this period, Lawson, the master of the Three Sisters, handed the charter-party to the Court, when it was found not to be signed by either the charterer, owner, or master. The Eesident Magistrate commented strongly on the loose way Hayes had entered into the chartering of the vessel for the voyage of the Buckingham Family. The master also handed into the Court a letter of instructions from the owner of the vessel, stating that if the JE3S was not paid in two days, and the vessel insured by Hayes at the Bluff, he was to proceed no furthor with them. A mass of evidence was gone into, when Hayesstated that he was notaware that ho had toi nsure the vessel himself, until the letter of instructions, received by the master from the owner, was read to him at the Bluff. Plaintiff non-suited, with 9s costs.