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Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 326, 18 July 1889, Page 2

The English Court of Appeal has upheld Lord Coleridge’s decision in the case of the Mogul Steamship Co. v. McGregor and others. This case is interesting as being the outcome of competition between shipping companies, a thing not unknown in Naw Zealand. Both the parties in this case were shipowners, the ships of the Mogul Co. running from Australia to England via China. To prevent competition and thus obviate a lowering of freights, a Conference was entered into by shipowners in 1884 by which a rebate of 5 per cent, was allowed to shippers by the Conference vessels. In April, 1885, the Mogul Co, was excluded from the Conference, and a commercial conflict was tha result, with heavy losses on both sides, The Company sued the Conference for the loss thus sustained on the ground that there was a conspiracy to ruin it, but the Judge hold that so long as the combination was not wrongful and malicious, the Conference acted within their rights, The only road to success nowadays is to squelch yoqr rivals out of existence. An appeal is to be made to the Privy Council.