The Press.
London, England, 1853-12-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

'flitting 'lwo' .loan; fur Wing iliaeovered that they were air
illegal thing, arid that thugs, who kept Oulu ariv rogue,* and
egehonda, he took pnieeedinva against theta ae such. After the
Hui aaa iee g Hein case, the late I AAA Itentinek had obtained a corn.
goatee, aunt it waa thought iel‘iaable to alter the etat uto of Annie,
%limb wad, illegal, and aitsipl enact that irrts alwtdJ
not toe rrroi erable tii a court of Plane,. Thin, person. who kept
eeinied to be rOgliell and vagabond*, and the law °Meer a*
disabled from prueeeding against thew, and the '' .dticea " apoken
of %prong sip. Am the just ifiratinn did not extend to. all tlie libels,
the %Prow. must trrlinically i.e for the plaintiff. and the Kinn 1111 l
darning,* Nam the only tiling which the jury would hate to
6•4
jorv, after roirailliug f..r Shout tw‘. gm, a verdict
for ilo• plaintiff for atathig their belief that Waugh had
taken Ilio• bet upon the lb,ill'ord race.
- •

WiENdiEßti by, and proprietors of, all emigrant
vessels are seriously interested in a case which, after
lasting through several entire days, was finally de-
rided in the Court of Common Pleas on Saturday
last. The defendants in this case were the Anstra
him Royal Mail Steam Navigation Company, and the
plaintiff had been a passenger by one of the steamers
belonging to the company during a return voyage
from Australia. The steamer in question was the
Melbourne, the unlucky incidents of whose outward
von age acquired so much notoriety last year. 4to
that occasion the vessel had to put in at Lisbon for
repairs, and was quitted by a large number of the in-
tending passengers, who perforined the voyage in other
ships. This eireumstainee was indirectly connected
with the present action, as a porti nn of the provisions
left unconsumed, through the redact* in the num-
ber of persons conveyed out, was reshipped for the
homeward trip, and the bad condition of the food
supplied formed one of the main grounds of the com-
plaint urged by the plaintiff. The latter was one of
many passengers who paid second-cabin fare for the
return voyage from Melbourne to the Thames. The
tickets were -11/. Ilk. each ; and it was alleged that
plans of the vessel and berths, A-c., were shown to
!win, and Juliet ary table was ftkoexhibited by an agent
14a- the el ompany in Australia, presenting a very
liberal allowance of provisions and necessaries.
Those constituted the tenns of a contract which the
plaintiff thus set forth in his declaration :

lu isitisideration that the would take a sei.
cabin passage to London on lsiard their ship 1..1.411. 105., the
dciendants pro Him the% would supply I ' with a Meet,ll,l.
clamm ',Ramage, HMI Wlllll4 amply him with all secombelass
eidiin requisites except bed, bedding, and linen, and that they
would also supply 1 • with meat, slritak, proviwittii., awl other
nobles iu certain quantities and prop/a-thins, und in a v 4.111611
ORR 1111 l .r altll by a certain scale ; that a 1.4,11111mq RAM liecordingly
entered into lietwreti lhnu, mid the plaintiff paid the iiliove
to the deleiiilsiitia, and went OH is,atrl the vesswi, imieeeded
1.11 the co%aue, and that the arrived its London in the or-
dinary (sows,. on the ;Ili of Attly ; yet that the defendants did
not pertiiren their contract in this, that they did not provide the
plaintill with • priqwr berth as ft see,tlmi-elsm,, cabin pßmikenger,
mail slid not supply Mon with secotitl-claits cubits requisites, luu
refusill Alt du se, Mid aid not pro% ide hint with mesa. drink. stud
pr., % isiiins ill the ,11101111itiem or pi oportiotis spceitied by the seale,
but meat, drink, and pro‘imitiaa IN bail and inferior quality and
in insufficient and less quantities, and permitted the ship anti
the decks and ~slits. to he NMI rcwnin during the ‘iiyuge in
filthy and unwholesome state. by means whereof the plaim
till' sittfervil in his health. OW !Uttered great annoyance and
ituory.

Many of the other second-class passengers coin
planned of a similar breach of eontract, and eleven in
all had brought their actions against the company,
after vainly endeavouring to obtain redress by me
morialising the board of directors. The ease of a
Mr. Smith was, however, selected to begin with—the
verdict of course governing all the rest. Damages
were laid at 200/. For the defendants seven pleas
were adduced, in one of which they denied the alle-
gation that. any contract had been entered into with
the plaintiff, and in others specifically repudiated time
charges brought against them upon the matters of
fact, except so far as related to a deficiency of pro-
isions during some portion of the voyage, which
they admitted, but excused on the ground that it
was occasioned by the prolongation of the passage
through unavoidable perils of the sea. Evidence of
a Ivry soluminous character, and descending to very
minute particulars, touching the treatment of the
passengers, the state of their cabins, the quality of
the accommodation provided tin• them, and the con-
dition of the commissmiat generally on board the
Melbourne during the voyage in question was adduced.
I • ltimatel• a verdict was returned for time plaintiff, with
;1)/. eamages. It was afterwards agreed upon that
the other cases should be discontinued, the defend-
ants paying costs and damages to each plaintiff at
the rate of NV. to single men and ;fit to the married
couples. This, it was stated, would constitute a
mulct upon the company to the amount of 11101. for
damirzes alone.