*
16840.
No. 144.
(NATAL.)
LAW OFFICERS to ADMIRALTY.
[Seizure and detention of S.S. "Avondale Castle" by H.M.S." Partridge": Claim by the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company, Limited.]
Opinion.
We are of opinion that no liability rests upon the Government, or any officer, in respect of the seizure or detention of the "Avondale Castle."* Any claim by the Castle Company ought to have been preferred in the Prize Court, and no other Court has any jurisdiction to entertain any claim for damages in respect of any seizure as prize, or any consequences of such seizure. We may refer on this subject to the case of Le Caux v. Exten, Douglas 594-especially the judgment of Bullen, J., pp. 600-613, which was con- curred in by Lord Mansfield, and to the judgment of Lord Mansfield himself in the case of Lindo v. Rodney, reported in the Note, pp. 612-620, of the same Report, and Mitchell r. Rodney, 2 Brown's Parly. Cases 423.
The present case, however, appears to us to be one of considerable hardship upon the owners of the "Avondale Castle." The authorities in Natal were fully apprised of the shipment of the gold in question, and, after consideration, informed the representatives of the owners that the ship might sail with the gold on board. She sailed accordingly, but was stopped and brought back by H.M.S."Partridge," with the result that certain expense and loss of time was incurred.
We suggest for the consideration of the Admiralty that the circumstances of the case are such as to make it proper that, purely as a matter of grace, some equitable allowance should be made to the owners in respect of the loss which they have sustained.
R. B. FINLAY.
Law Officers' Department, April 17, 1902.
EDWARD CARSON.
*Correspondence on this subject is printed in African Nos. 646 and 605.
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