The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1875-04-24

been employed for ten years atone Of the Pulu sta
tons. packing green pulu and he also stated that
when packed green ii loses one pOuAd in Eve in
weight. Already several houses here. who used to
keep q stock Of puIu on hand. are refusing to buy
any mere, as it constantly loses in weight, and win
only buy as they get orders for beds" The follow
ing is the report Of the case above referred to, from
the Sydney Morning Herald Of March Sd:
NEWTON AND OTHERS rs oLuSEY.
The plaintiffs in this case were Christopher New
ton, John Newton, and John s. Newton, trading
under the firm Of Christopher Newton, Brothers. and
Co. and the defendant, John CoaQuin Quincy, mas
ter Of the brig Robert CoeaR.
Mr.. Butler. Q. C., and Mr.. SiE0pSoD, instructed by
Messrs. Pigott and Triskett. appeared for the plain
tits Mr.. Saiomons, Instructed by Messrs. Stephen
and Stephen, for the defendant.
The action was brought for damage 10 ceftain pnlu
shipped On board the defendants vessel AZ Honelulu
for SYDNEY. The FIRST count Of the declaration was
for not delivering according 20 the terms Of the bill
Of lAding, the second for want Of proper care Ia
stowage of the cargo. The defendant denied the
agreement alleged, denied having received the goods
on the terms alleged. denied the alleged breaches of
the agreement, and said that the damage had arisen
from the excepted causes and perils- The first and
last defense we're, however. practically abandoned,
and the substantial ground Of defense insisted on
was that the damage 70 the pull arose from its state
when shipped at Honolulu, and was not caused in
any way by the act Of the carriers. The question
arose whether such a defense was available under the
particular pleas in this action, Mr.. Salomons contend
ing that the third plea denying any breach Of the
agreement in the bill of lading, met this case while
il was argued upon the other side that n special plea
was necessary. His Honor decided that the defense
could be gone into upon the record II as il stood. The
ces of the case were as follows. In Decem-
Der, 1874. l23 bales of pulu were shipped at Homo
lulu to Sydney, to the order of Messrs. c. Newton
aud Co. the plaintiffs. In the bin of lading, the only
perils excepted were " the dangers Of the seas and
the usual clause " not accountable for leakage, break
age, sc. '%wss not inserted. The result Of the ac-
ton would seem to show that ii is unnecessary. The
weight. OF the pulu was stated in the margin to be
4,244 lbs, bat the words weight and contents IN
known" appeared in the body of the bill of lading.
Besides the 12S bales of pull. The cargo consisted Of
40 other bales of the same material, some kegs of
sugar, bags of rice, and casks Of oil. On arrival at
Sydney. il was fonnd that nearly every bale of Messrs.
Newton's consignment was seriously Managed. The
wrappers were decayed, and the lashings so rotten
that the bales could not be lifted by them. Conse-
quently, as soon as bulk was broken the wrappers Of
the bales burst, and the pull protruded. The 40
bales which were sworn to have been slowed promis-
cuously with the 1913 bales were not damaged in the
least, and were delivered in perfect order. For the
plaintiff, Mr.. Lamb (of Bradley, Newton, and Lamb).
Captain Noodle, Mr.. CeWlishaw, and Mr. James Cole
man were called as witnesses. They deposed TO the
state of the cargo on arrival at Sydney, and attribu-
ted the damage to improper stowage, and the contact
OF the oil and sugar casks. None OF them saw the
cargo until after bulk had been broken. They des-
cribed the damage to the pulu as consisting entirely
in the injury to the wrappers. and stated that the
material itself appeared quite dry and good. II the
packages were broken pull would not be merchanta-
ble, even if not further damaged. Meme of these
witnesses examined the interior of the bales. The
witnesses admitted the extent of the dam
age, but ascribed it to the wet state of the pull when
it was shipped. They all spoke to the fact of the
bales being wet inside while the outside was quite
dry /; the captain and mate swore that there was a
practice in Honolulu of not drying the pulu in order
to keep up its weight; and several people in the trade
in Sydney gave their opinion from the appearance of
the pulu that the damage was caused by its wetness
when shipped. Evidence was given, that the cargo
properly slowed and well dunnaged, both by the
captain and mate and also by Captain Snstenanee
and Mr.. Lutge. who examined the cargo both before
after bulk was broken.
After the speeches of counsel, and His Honor's
up, the jury returned a verdict for the