Untitled

Southland Times, 22 January 1864, Page 3

course 6f,nr^sp|nence, Kb ; i»itd never linnrd.siirh '* anexposur 0 of gross neglect of iluty. He wouUl, howevci%caJl - * ' ■'."". Henry Ajrswi, who had beon an apWenliee abuavd. tub ship".' fliThad been with tho Grecian during i thOii^iole s»>" tho vovaee." The voyage had not * ' beenH(jJ^Y and : . honestly proseeutorl* «s a whaling vbjage..-:- Plaintiff all the .timo whs' 'principally' : .enjnj|e3' in- ■'trading '.with tho natives Tho fifty : natives ■■'referred to by plaintiff' were aboard the • vessel five or six dnys. .They were ; wot nil men; ; thejwerenotassistingthe ship in Ayhaling- They .. left the vessel ma schooner to go to.another isliuid^' " The schooner, belonged to tlio king of the island to which. the Grecian, brought;^tbeni.; ■ During' thefr toassa'ftehe did'Cptlicur any of --the natives on dock '- one* night: make ■ any .r emark about being sold. , ,TKo crew looked? on "the natives as 'passengers-. ''. There ;xrere i&qyeiii&v': eight' women «moog them; • The ship hud five t)oats;,when she left Hobart Town. "V Fhe badjoaijr.bne^a^ present. She ■■only-, lost pner/' •" during "the vojage.!- ..Qne was sold to the Mnorks ;..' at the Chatham Islands.. Witness did not know ~ svbat became of ; ■ thft qt tiers. By 5 ,tho plaintiff^- He had been . whaling ¥ J - one * ybyago anS.^pktt.: of .-: 'another.' 1 ■ Had not -had- : tnuch . expericnee how .a .whaling voy- **' age should ■shqurd.be conducted: There 'was . generally a lobk-biit ; kept '-.ab the mast-head, for whales, but .they cari'led sail at night when whalers ■ do not. Somotimes Iherb was no look-out kept nt j.thfi ' ir.mt hesid;'' Wlieri", Weather permitted. "When whales were" deen, the ship's company were . ■ never prevented going after them. It was usual to entch whales in shore in some places. He did ■not ronsider a veasel was whaling if she went to the Island d>iy afror day. They kept; ■•' mast-heads" to look out for whales, some part of the time they had tUe natives 'on board. He was sent to the mast-head, but he did nofc know what he had to look for. The natives went ashore with their free will. The captain's (plaintiff's) boat was lent to . some of them to. go ashore; tho others went in • canoes. Wone of the Grecian's peop'e tried to prevent any of them going ashore* William' Bartlett deposed that he joined the •Grecian as chief mate in February, 18t>3. He kept no log, because the'Crtptuin refused to let him. He asJ&d the captain, for the log-book, when he joined, but the captain told him as he had kept it up to that time.he would continue to do so tor the remainder of the voyage. From the time witness joined Ihe vessel, f .he plaintiff, he should say, had not used the vessel fairly and honestly in whaling. The nalivrs were aboard the vessel for aliput three days. They were not assisting the ship in whaling. Previous to the natives coming aboard, the captain and witness hearing that some time before that a vessel from Peru had culled at the island, and had taken a-.vay a lot of the natives for slaves, when the plaintiff remarked "whnta good paying gamp it was," hut he (witness) took it hs mere jest. Th.^ talk about the vessel from Peru was brought off by the second niato from the island. ■ By the Plaintiff. — Witness was offered the lo? book to keep. He was subpoened agninst plaintiff iv a wiße (for sißujgling) the other di»y. He entertained no ill-frplrns: to him on that ac'ouni. Had been whtilitig for three or four-and-twenty years. The mast-houU were not duly manned at all thr.es, when the weather permitted. One of the crew, on rme occasion, refused to go to the siost-head, bec-ause he said the'ship was a pas Sii3<rer ship and tlipy were not whaling. The plait! tiff said he might go to h — l. they could do without lii-n. He was only aware from plaintiff's fwn words what he was to get for giving a passage to the natives. Tho natires — as far as witness saw j had liberty to go whore they liked. After landing the natives, the vessel cruised through the group ot tiie Fijis, looking for whales. Plaintiff never refused or prevented the crow from " lowering".. aftet .-whales. At one place they nerc at anchor for nearly a month ; thpy saw no whales (except humpbacks) all that time. Thpy were looking for whalps all th-it month, — that was» nearly every dny. The days they were not ivlinling plaintiff had a boat's crew ashore, trading with tbenntivps, to suit his own purpose. By the Bench — A whaling vessel was usually fitted out for a voyage of twelve months trom Hobart Town. It was customary to victual the ship for the titnf, without having to trade at the islands for provisions. About the Fijis, ifc w;is customary tor whnlers to cruize in bhore for whales- Tho usual fishing ground for H»bart Town whalers, was the west coast of New Zealand, Chatham, and the iS'uvfgafors Islands. Iv the ships witness had been in, it was not customary for the musters to bivter with tlie nntives for proL visions "for th« vessel. While be was in the J Grecian, there was more trading with the natives (^ than he believed was customary. He was never at t'ue Fijis in any vessel before. . Tliis be'inir ths case for the defence, Mr Harvey ■n-raived his right, of reply, as the plaintiff had no -rlofMsel appearing for him. * *-T)ie Bench were fully satisGed that the plaintiff had not oroperly performed his dutyrcquired by a wliolinc-vovasre, and would therefore nonsuit him. M.r Hrtrvey said it could only be admitted that the whole of the log was what might- be termed "" cooked," — in fact, that it was a fraudulent statement altogether. The way iv which he accounted lor the p-issacre of the natives were anything but clear. By his nwn statement of the way in which he lanried the ship's stoves at .Stewart's Island, he had deliberately committed thct't tinder the Frauduleut Trustees Act. The whole of his actions showed a series of misropivseutafcioiis. falsehood and fraud, on his owners He should therefore ask for a verdict for the defendants, with, costs. The Bench gave a verriict for the defendants with coslx. Mr Harvey applied to the Bench to impound the log and the otner documents produced in Court, as it was bis intention to lay nn information against ■Cantain M'Grath tor stealing. The Bench granted the application .