LOSS OF THE TAINUI.
AN ECHO IX THE COURT,' CHARGES OP NEGLIGENCE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, March 2, The Tainui case was resumed this morning when further evidence [or the defence was heard in the case in which Frederick Jhlin Needham, shipping manager. and Claude Smellie, shipping clerk to the New Zealand Refrigerating Co., are .charged with negligence. Archibald Walker, surveyor of ships for Lloyds at Wellington, sslld lie did not think it possible that the disaster had been caused by an explosion in the stokehold. He had given the matter careful consideration, and had come to the conclusion that the origin of the explosion must have been 011 deck. Cross-examined, he said he knew the benzine cargo put aboard the Tainui was bad. If the shipping clerk saw the condition of the cargo he would expect him to notify his office, but not to interfere with the loading of the ship. Alister McLean Wright, chemist-to tli? New Zealand Refrigerating Co., gave details of experiments he had made to test the absorbent qualities of kauri and other timbers with regard to benzine, and also to testing the explosive qualities of benzine. He concluded that the explosion had been caused by a nuked light being thrown on dock. Gerald Fitzgerald, engineer, Wellington, also expressed the opinion that the explosion occurred 011 deck.
DEFENDANTS DEW NEGLIGENCE THE DECISION RESERVED. Christehureh, Last Night. The defendants, Smellie and Needham, gave evidence, that thev had nothing to do with the soundness or the condition of the cargoes. Needham said no part of his duties took him near the ship to see the cargo. It was a physical impossibility for him to be there. Smellie said he knew nothing about the loading or stowage of cargoes. The captain or mate had every chance of seeing what was the condition of the cargo put aboard the Tainui on September loth. William Murray, managing director of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company, said it was untrue that v,"itness or any one in the company had endeavored to get the captain of the Tainui to hasten the stowage of .the cargo or to take any aboard that he would be inclined to reject. lie regarded any such suggestion as a vile, wicked and malicious calumny, which he absolutely repudiated and most strongly resented. Sir John Findlay said that while he would admit negligence had been shown in the loading of the cargo it was not on the part of the two defendants. The magistrate reserved his decision until to-morrow.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19200303.2.46
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taranaki Daily News, 3 March 1920, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
419LOSS OF THE TAINUI. Taranaki Daily News, 3 March 1920, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.