[port regulations]

The Cruel Strictness of a Wharfinger
Supreme Court
Field J., 15 August 1822
Source: Sydney Gazette, 16 August 1822

Yesterday the Sittings of the Supreme Court commenced for the third Term. The Members are Mr. Brooks and Mr. Wollstonecraft. A cause was tried in which Mr. Justice Field had occasion severely to condemn the cruel strictness with which the wharfinger at Launceston, in Port Dalrymple, enforced the Port Regulation, which requires all goods to be landed before three o'clock. It appeared that because a boatload of goods, which put off as early in the morning as the tide would permit, from a vessel which could not anchor nearer than 7 miles, could not arrive at the wharf till four o'clock, the wharfinger would not suffer the boat's crew even to take their oars and sails out of the boat, and the master of the vessel was forced to sit up all night and watch the goods in the boat. The [?] of the tide swamped the boat, and some valuable goods were lost. The learned Judge said the Port Regulations of the Territory wanted a thorough revision; but, till that was done, there was no occasion for their hardships to be aggravated by official rigour. Launceston, the principal town of Port Dalrymple, is 40 miles up the Tamar, which is not practicable for large vessels farther than 7 or 8 miles. How then can boat ensure arrival at the wharf before three o'clock? And is it not cruel to expose valuable goods all night to the risk of boats, the accidents of weather, and the danger of plunder, if they happen to arrive one minute after 3 o'clock? It would serve this wharfinger right, if an action were brought against him for this loss.