Taxpayer Pays
p. 94 · Read in the full issue
No Tanker: So Australian Taxpayer Pays
SOMEONE who blundered in 1947 cost the Australian Govern ment over £3,000 for damages.
In March, 1947, Commonwealth War Disposals offered for sale by tender a tanker, lying on Jourmand Reef, near Milne Bay, north of Samarai, Papua; and Edward and Keith Mcßae got it for £285.
The Mcßaes sent an expedition to investigate their purchase. They found there was no reef thereabouts called Jourmand. Eleven miles from the position indicated they found a wrecked barge, which was not a tanker. They sued, and the High Court awarded damages. It said the officials had been reckless and irresponsible in wording their ad vertisement.