HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1937.
AVIATION
AIRPLANE'S OWNERS
TO PAY
Pilot Blamed: Heston Airport Not Unsafe, Says Judge
Reserved judgment was delivered, by Mr. Justice Goddard in the
King's Bench Division.
superseded, rail and sex methods As a 'guest it was no concem of of transport, The railways were Major Fosbroke-Hobbes who sup as great an innovation when they plied the airplane or who served na took the place of the stage-coach, pilot. He had the right to expect but the courts found no difficulty an airplane fit and proper for the m applying the same doctrine to journey and, if the pilot was negli them as applied to the stage-sent, the plot's employers would
"prima facie" be responsible."
The action against, Airwork, Ltd.. sccordingly failed.
coach,
In this case the pilot had attri- puted his not
gaining enough speed-or losing it in taking off-- to a "down current over a plough- ed Held."
I cannot accept that explana-
tion." said Mr. Justice Goddard...
think the evidence for the The widow of a man who was the British American Air Service,
at Limited,
the machine. plaintif established a positive case led in an airplane crash
Owners of
that the pilot. Heston, Middlesex. on July 18, The damages were awarded only ut negligence in $1935; Was awarded £10,000 against the latter, the Judge find-starting his run, left the ground damages recently against the owning that the case against Alrwork with the tall-end of the machine too far down. The angle prevent fern of the airplane.
Ltd. falled.
Airwork, Limited, pleaded thated the machine rising and gaining they were merely booking agents, Aying speed. and caused it to and tne second defendants con- stan."
kable The action was brought by tended that they were not Mabel Mary Fosbroke-Hobbes, of under the terms of the charter. Swinley Cottage, Ascot, claiming Mr.. Justice Goddard said it was the dis- damages for the death of her hus- abundantly clear that band. Major A. W. Fosbroke-astrous accident was due to the Hobbes Major Fosbroke-Hobbes pilot and that the principle of "res was a member of a party of seven ipsa loquitur" ("the thing speaks
the guests of Mr. H. C. Vickers, a for itself" applled." atockbroker, who had chartered an airplane to take them to the naval review at Spithead.
The airplane crashed in taking on and burst into flames. Two people were killed and five injured,
DEFENDANTS' 'PLEA
The defendants in the action were Airwork, Limited, owners of Heston Airport (through whom the airplane was chartered), and
Whether that doctrine applied to airplanes, engaged on lofig fights was not for him to decide.
In this case the machine had added just begun its Might and, the judge, it was an accident which. I think. all are agreed ought not to have happened.
"NEGLIGENCE BY PILOT" Travelling by air the judge con- tinued. had supplemented, but not
CONDITIONS OF CHARTER British American Air Service
father in the prime of life, in a good position and with excellent the widow and her prospects, daughters have suffered a severe, grievous. Injury.
"I thing a fair sum to award is £10,000, added to which are the funeral expenses of £25."
During a discussion, on the ques- tion of costs Bir Stafford Cripps. KC. (for Airwork, Ltd.), sald It was a test action to decide. the questions of "negligence
could only escape liability through lability. The other clatins the conditions in the charter.`
and wore
Mr. Justice Goddard entered judgment for the plaintifs against British American Air Service. Ltd., with costs, and; for Airwork Ltd. half their costs to be paid by the plaintiffs.
A stay of execution with a view to a possible appeal was granted on terms that £500 was paid to the widow forthwith and the balance of the damages paid into court within 14 days,
One of those conditions made brought by other members of the party or their representatives who them exempt from liability in the had agreed to be bound by the re- event of their own or their ser-sult of the present action on either
of the question raised. vants negligence,
When the guests were seated in the airplane, Mr. Vickers junior was handed an envelope. He was told it was his ticket
It was in fact a document called The pilot, added Mr. Justice a special charter, containing a Goddard, did all he could to maini- variety of terms and conditions. It mise the crash, and it was due to contemplated the signature of the his conduct that the consequences passengers, but before Mr. Vickers had any opportunity of seeing its were not more serious.
Airwork, Ltd., held themselves contents the airplane started and out as principals and undertook, the disaster happened."
"It seems impossible to hold, In
AIRPORT SAFE lability as principals: They were
Sir Stafford Cripps said he wish- the only persons with whom Mr. those circumstances that there
had been a communication of the ed to make a statement about the Vickers or his father contracted;
of the The obligation of Airwork, Ltd.. conditions of hire before the four-Heston Airport, in view was to supply a competent pilotney started or that there was an publicity which had been given to acceptance expressed or implied."the pilot's evidence of its being un- and a safe airplane.
said Mr. Justice Goddard.
British American Air Service Mr. Justice Goddard-My view could not rely on the conditions. is that there was nothing what- and Mrs. Fosbroke-Hobbes was ac- to judgment cordingly entitled against them.
1.
But the major was not a party to the contract. Airwork, Ltd., had contracted to carry a party of seven, but was not made with all the members of the party; it was made with Mr. Vickers.
MOTOR JOTTINGS
THE SAFETY OF COMFORT
motor-car on the roads of Great FROM STRENGTH Britain to-day.
The "105" Talbot apart from this highly-desirably quality of comfort, is a singularly agreeable car to drive. I have known it by
Peace Of Mind And name for
Body
THE 105" TALBOT
BY JOHN PRIOLEAU The main unpression I got from my trial of the new "105" Talbot one of safety pro- recently was duced by comfort. It is not a particularly large car, but it has four roomy places to sit in, you can see out of it. it is finished in unostentatious but Arst-grade manner. Apart from the way it moves, with which, I will deal pre sently, it is not a specially striking car, but it is extremely comfortable
the most Important way. As soon as you sit down in it elther as driver or passenger, you feel thoroughly comfortable in your mind, and anyone who has driven several varieties and types of cars at frequent intervals will agree at Ponce that this is a rare event,
In lots of cars you are comfor-
tably houred and seated, warm, dry, umblown upon by Insidious draughts. In lots of cars you feel.
the moment you have the wheel.
TO STRENGTH
"GRIEVOUS INJURY" "Damages," said Mr. Justice Goddard. "must necessarily be heavy. In losing husband and
AIR FREIGHT
TRANSPORT
IN CANADA.
Varied Loads Now Carried By Cargo-Plane
a long time, but this Motor Manufacturers by freight-planes in Canada is
was the first time I had driven it. And in case other people be- side myself do not know what those odd figures stand for. I should begin by saying that they Indicate the maximum horse power and not the maximum speed. I don't think the "105" will go as fast that, but I do know the whatever its maximum is it reaches it as all comfortable cars should, comfortably.
LL
FINE FINISH
Optimism
sare.
.
ever in that, otherwise Heston Air- port would be the subject of an air crash every warm day...I think It was the last despairing effort.
The judge adjourned until next term consideration of the question of allocating the damages.
AIR NOTES AND NEWS IN BRIEF
The extension of the Imperial Airways Khartoum-Kano service to Lagos enables mails to be trans- ported between Lagos and London' in six days, as compared with from The variety of the loads carried
15 to 19 days by surface transport. As a result of a recent confer- Ulustrated by a list issued recently.
ence attended by meteorologists It was found to include
and air transport experts, plans Dynamite, machine parts, ce-
are now being made for forecast- ment, tents, parafin, rifles, fur. dogs, radium concentrates, steaming the weather over Africa as a boilers, fire-bricks, canoes, traps, whole. British East Africa, British. French, and Italian Somaliland. harness, barbed wire, pigs.
!
Not long ago a pilot of one of and Eritrea, are to broadcast daily the big Canadian freight-planesports from the station at
was asked if he could take a team of oxen by air for a distance of about 140 miles from one station to another. He said he would try, and the trip was actually accom-
In view of the uninterrupted progress of the company for a number of years, special interest attaches to Mr. N. P. Andrew's optimistic remarks when presiding at the annual meeting of Den- is Bros. Ltd., the Guildford firm of commercial vehicle manu- facturers. "I have at no time," he The six-cylinder engine is a said, "had more confidence in our three-litre, the design following future than I have now. More-plished by tying the feet of the the familiar Talbot lines. It is a over, this is due, not to any excep- oxen together with stout rope, and plain workinqnlike job, with ex- tional circumstance, such as de- then wrapping the animals in
In this fashion it cellent finish The steering-box, fence requirements, but rather to heavy canvas. for example, is chromium-plated, an traproved capacity to meet the and where that finish looks well. demands of our 'regular trade." you will generally find it. If only
Sir Raymond Dennis, in his turn, more makers would realise the also emphasized that no part of excellent psychological effect pro- the gratifying increase of rather duced on the mind of the keen more than 11 per cent in profits owner by a bit of plating to keep was due to Government orders polished! (Not lamps, of course arising out of the re-armament They are merely a burden and
programme; it had been derived wearing of the flesh).
from what might be described as The Talbot is sold with either a standard trading.
proposals for the Referring to straight" gearbox, with synchro- the firm's of engine, Sir Raymond development of the aerial medical nesh, or a pre-selective with traine clutch. With the latter it costs £25 stated that they had reached an services are under consideration in economy in fuel consumption un-Australia.” One of the suggestions more. The car I drove had it. & surpassed by any other compres | is to organise the work of the 'fly- fact I regretted, but only because sion Ignition engine, with the re- ng doctors in Queensland into a I wanted to see what the plain
Of approximately 150.000 x was like, and because the other suit that they had within the last State-aided system covering an
month received orders for over area
You are më.
that you have "got hold of her that if she has any dublous tricks up her sleeve you will forestall them easily, that you and she are one for the time being. comfortable in your mind. In the new Talbot you are comfortable every way, and the result is that, Das passenger and driver, you have Na pleasant sensation of security.
"SECURITY"
SPEED AND CLIMBING This car is lively enough in the
same engine. Many
was found possible to get them in- to the hold of the air-freighter, and transported one at a time. they made the air journey without mishan
FLYING DOCTORS OF AUSTRALIA
Important
MARINE AIR-STATIONS
Asmara. Another station In North-West Africa will broadcast meteorological data collected from the Western Sahara, while a third will report weather conditions in Nigeria, the Cameroons. French Equatorial Africa, and the Belgian Congo.
During the first six months of this year, air-liners operating on scheduled services in the United states Dow 33.523.075 miles, and carried 483,712 passengers. July's passenger figures, 110,890, establi shed a new record.
It is hoped to inaugurate on 1st. July next year the great Canadian trans-continental alf-mail. The ground organisation of this route. it is now estimated, will have cost approximately £1,500,000 by the time the last intermediate landing- ground has been equipped.
H.M.S. KENT HOME
Reconstruction After Two Years In Far East
HM8. Kent, which is normally
Station, arrived in England re- cently after nearly two years in
the cruiser flagship of the China
The Kent was last commissionad
The Kent is to undergo recon- struction at Chatham and will be at Chatham in May, 1934.
paid on into dockyard control for the purpose. Her reconstruction will be similar to that undergone by the cruiser Cumberland, which was completed earlier this year. and the cruiser Suffolk, which is not yet completed.
has, up till now, no surprises for one hundred 32-seater buses atted square miles. The proposals in- with this power unit; in addition, clude the establishment of a large And here I found one of the orders had been placed in the and completely-equipped central Talbot's specially attractive fea-game period for over 40 double-medical base at Cloncurry, where tures. It is very high geared. "Top deck buses, each atted with the three doctors and two special air-
a fairly normal at 4.6 to 1, but a
of these craft would be stationed.
One of the officers of Australia's C.25 third is remarkable in a car vehicles will incorporated the new medical air service. Dr. Albery, the Far East, weighing about 34 cwt. and not
5-speed gearbox: It is an unemotional word, secu- designed, so far as I knew, for
As a result of the year's opera-ew more than 20,000 miles to rity, but vital. It was never gate, sheer performance. Secorid is quite even in the days when you met extraordinarily high at B7 or so. tions the net profit amounted to urgent cases during the first six one ear per hour and every other (I notice with special interent that 134,187, and fortunae share. months of this year. wheeled thing made a break for the plain box has a second of 113 holders will have received divi safety leaving you like royalty in to a remarkable circumstance, dends for the year at the rate of
FOR the middle of the road, it was not to be explained by experience), 168 2/3 per cent.
EMPIRE FLYING BOATS never safe to be incomfortable. To-day it is just, as dangerous'us
Preliminary work is in hand in Findifferent brakes, sloppy steering, I accepted sense, but what I liked hand-brake better than is usual in
connection with the alte of the sea. and half a dozen other affictions about it was its obvious power re- these days of "parking brakes."-"
The reconstruction provides The engine runs smoothly and plane base which will be used at If you are not absolutely comfor-serve. The usual conditions pre- table in your driving seat, unham-vented my getting more than quietly, I should like to take this Durtan, South Africa, by the Ay- these ships with additional de armour protection and deck arm- pered by the slightest obstruction. seventy miles an hour on the dial, | car through the Alps, for its climbing-coats of the new Empire air-
our as protection against afri your feet, hands, and elbows all but at that moment there was a ing qualities Box Hill was taken mail service. An Assistant-Port- In their natural positions for the hearty promise of "more to come." t
on third and second in invigorating Captain (sing) has just been craft attack. More anti-aircraft guns are also fitted, and a hangar job of driving, so that there is I would estimate that "more" at fashion, and Pebblecombe (steepest appointed to devote himself to this nothing on earth to district your another ten miles. Sixty on third point 1 15 64), from a standing preliminary work. He is Captain is but just before the mainmast to house three amphibian "Wal- attention from it, you are not was to be expected, but better than start, on first and second, in 32 N. R. Cook, who was formerly air- Criving safely.
this was the really comfortable seconds, the speed rising to thirty station supervisor at Windhoek, us" machines, whit are launch- If as a passenger, you are not sixty cruising speed. I liked the miles an hour, with only a slight Captain Cook, who is the holder ofed from a catapult Immediately Comfortable you may not be dan- steering for its firmness and fairly drop at the top. A very good show-a seaplanie pilot's, certificate, was gerous, but you fuss and fidget high gearing: the rond-holding was ing for the weight. Every necessary in the Dover Patrol in 1916, and, and produce an atmosphere of good; the suspension (orthodox, gadget is atted, including per- was afterwards stationed on sever-plane station at Allahabad for the use of the Empire flying-boats," the what Kal-Lung would have called but with hand-control on the manent lacking, and I call it really al aircraft carriers..
And no ease should wheels distinctly above the aver cheap at £405 with the plain box Discussions are now taking place proposal being, for the acquisition
as to the establishment of the ses- of a base near the Júmna bant. have no place in a decent-sized age; the root brakes nrst-class, the and 2520 with the pre-selective.
before the hangar,
SANDEMAN
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THE TAIKOO DOCKYARD & ENGINEERING
COMPANY OF HONGKONG, LIMITED.
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THE MILWAUKEE ROAD