The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-04 00:00:00

STEEL V. SCROMBERG.

Mr. Cowling applied to the court for a rule to show
cause why a new trial should not be had in this case, on
the ground of misdirection. The plaintiff was a ship-
owner, and the defendant the emigration officer at Liver-
pool ; and the action was brought to recover damages,
because the defendant bad refused to certify a ship under
the last Passenger Act, the 15th and 16th Vic., chap.
44. It would appear that the plaintiff was the owner
of an Australian emigration ship,-called the Millines,
and the defendant refused to pass her for her last voyage,
because she was too deep in the water, her draught be-
ing 16 feet 6 inches, whereas on her former village she
had come safe home, while drawing IS feet 6 inches.
All the provisions of the Passenger
.Act had been com-
plied with, but under the 16th section the defendant
c'aimed to be the sole judge of whether the vessel was
too deep er not. On the other hand, the plaintiff con-
tended that the question did not rest with hire at all, but
with the Surveyors, whom he was to appoint under the
act, and if they were satisfied he had no alternative but to
grant the certificate. The defendant had pleaded not
guilty by statute, and at the trial, under the direction of
the judge, the jury found a verdict in his favour.
Lord Campbell—Do you mean to say, Mr. Cowling,
that there may be an appeal in every case against the
bona fide judgment of the emigration officers ?
Mr. Cowling—Not in every case ; but here we say
he has exceeded his jurisdiction, because be has nothing
to do with the requirements of the 16th section of the
act, which relates to the seaworthiness of the ship, and
vests the authority in the surveyors, who had passed the
ship in this instance.
Lord Campbell_ Was any reason assigned why the
vessel was too deer I
Mr. Cowling—No, my lord, except that a vessel called
the A.Z., drawing 16 feet, had just come home with her
house on deck washed away.
Lord Campbell observed that the point was of too
i much
'migration
to the public to be hastily disposed
of. E migration officers must be protected in the bona
fide discharge of their duties but it might happen
that he had no authority under the 16th section of the
act. However, the court would take time to consider
the matter, and give its decision on a future day.

EXC PI EQUER.
IdIITCHINSON 17. SIDNEY.
case, on the ground that the judge ought
Mr. Serjeant Shee applied to the court for a rule to
show cause why a new trial should not be had in this
di-
rected the jury that there was evidence of a set-off suffi-
cient to answer the plaintiff's claim. The plaintiff was
an engineer, and the defendant Sir Robert Sidney, of
Bournbridge-lodge, Berke, and the former sought to re-
cover from the latter '251 , but the defendant pleaded a
and Coke Association, to have
set-off under these circumstances. It appeared that the
plaintiff was the originator of the Surrey Consumers' Gas
become a director of that society upon a promise
of
in-
demnity to hold him harmless from all expense and
liabilities which he might incur in respect of the office.
For the purp•se of
property of the plaintiff who was to make qualifying himself as a director the
defendant took up twenty-five shares in the association,
and he induced the defendant t•
but still upon the understanding that they were to be the
Eventually the plaiutiff brought the present action, awl
the defendant pleaded a set-off, alleging that the expenses
more
he had been put to as a director of the gas company
than covered the claim, but at the trial the set-off was
not allowed by the judge, and the jury found for the
plaintiff. Renee the application for a new trial.
good the calls.
The Lord Chief Baron said the court would take time
to consider the motion, but would take that opportunity
of intimating that if they granted a rule something might
be said about the practice of accepting directorships in
public companies under guarantees of indemnity. In
his opinion it was exceedingly incorrect, and he was
disposed to believe it to be illegal.

SHOREDITCH COUNTY COURT.
(Before Mr. Serjeant Storks.)
AN IMPORTANT DECISION UNDER THE DRAMATIC AUTHORS

.&CT.-VINCENT V. DOUGLASS.
This was an action brought to recover penalties under
the Dramatic Authors' Act. The plaintiff is Miss Eliza
Vincent, lessee of the Victoria Theatre, and the defend-
ant Mr. Joha Douglass, of the Royal National Standard
Theatre, Shoreditch, and thepresent action was brought te
recover the penalty of 40s. a night from defendant for
having, without receiving proper authority, performed for
a certain number of nights a drama by the late Thomas
Egerton Wilke, called Kate Wynsley, the Cottage Girl.
The entire right of the drama in question had been sold
te the late Mr. Osbaldeston, and had by him, with others,
bees demised to the plaintiff. The author had also again
sold it to the defendant.

To prove the right being entirely invested in the late
Mr. Osbaldeston, Mrs. Robert Honner, the actress, was
subpoeaned to prove that the late Mr. R. Honner, when
lessee of the City of London Theatre, had paid Mr. Os-
baldesten for the right of having it played at that house.
After hearing a long discussion,
The learned Sergeant decided that the cause was one
for the Superior Courts. The Cuurt had power only to
try actions for the recovery of small debts, and not
where penalties were sued for.
The plaintiff was thereupon nonsuited.

BHRLIN ART-EXHIBITION : LATRIIIT WORK OP Kiss.—
The present Berlin exhibition is considered unsatisfac-
tory, although all the spaces are crowded. The insigni-
ficant and even bad are so numerous, that the good al-
most loses itself at their side. Amongst the hundreds of
oil paintings, not one historical piece of any worth is to
be descried. The largest plastic work has been exhibited
by Professor Kiss, in his atelier—St. George vanquish-
ing the Dragon, or the Victory of Faith over Infidelity,
which, however, is another amazon transposed into the
masculine gender. In such colossal proportions, the
vani,llPg too much b,fore the midi-Imlay of the
horse and dragon. There will be a plaster copy of this
neAt year at the Universal French Exhibition, and the
casting in bronze, we are told, will take place in Lou.
don. It will be an oxpoloiyo work.--27w Beikkr._

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