A rule nisi has been granted for a criminal information
against Mr. Plimsoll for the libel on Mr. Norwood (a shipowner, and M.P. for Hull) in Mr. Plimsoll's book on the causes of shipping disasters. According to the ex pane statement of Mr. Norwood's counsel, the Livonia, a ship of Mr. Norwodd's, which was intended by the owner to sail to Cronstadt, but which was- lost within a few hours of her leaving Hull in con- sequence of the breaking of a part of the engine, had been point- edly alluded to as a gross case of overloading by Mr. Plimsoll. This ship, said the Attorney-General, on behalf of Mr. Norwood, was the only ship Mr. Norwood had ever lost, except by stranding or collision. It was not, according to the owner's statement, overloaded, but a margin of three hundred tons was left between her actaal load and what she was built to carry. Her engines had been thoroughly- overhauled before the voyage and found in perfect order, and the accident, which caused no loss of life, though it caused the loss of the ship, was not one which greater care could have foreseen. The freight was insured, but not the vessel herself, and Mr. Norwood lost /4,500 by her. Mr. Plimsoll, it appears, had spoken of Mr. Norwood in the lobbies of the House as one who was in the habit of overloading his ships, and when challenged had referred to this particular vessel in proof. Mr. Plimsoll's defence has not, of course, been heard.
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