Claim by Sailors for Passages Home Two cases of disputed jurisdiction were before the United States Court for China on Monday. The first resulted from a claim by 18 sailors formerly on the str. Esther Dollar for repatriation to Cardiff, where they were signed on. Mr. P. M. Linebarger represented the plaintiffs and Mr. R. T. Bryan was for the Robert Dollar Ca.
Mr. Linebarger said that the plaintiffs alleged that, when engaged at Cardiff, they were promised second class passage home. Here, however, the berths offered them on the str. Tampa Maru were only the equivalent of the steerage accommodation for Asiatics. Accordingly, they refused to take the ship.
Mr. Bryan said that the defendants paid over $400 per head for the passages. Several were accepted and on the remainder the company had to forfeit 25 per cent. deposit money. The defendants were Willing to give second class passages and wages up to the Tam-ba Maru's arrival at home.
It then developed that the plaintiffs were British subjects, whilst the defendant company was a Canadian firm and, though both counsel were willing to proceed with the case, it was held to be doubtful whether this could be allowed, in view of the impossibility of binding the defendants to a
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.