| Description | This time relating to the exact implication of a covenant for the peaceable enjoyment in a lease granted 1 December, 1830, by George [third] Lord Boston to two lessees for a term of 10 years. Very soon after the making of the lease a steamboat, named "Paul Fry", began to carry passengers, goods, horses, &c. from Caernarvon to Barras, in a few years making a profit of £400, all to the injury and detriment of Lord Boston's lessees. Unfortunately, when the case was tried at Assize, it was decreed that the route Caernarvon - Barras did not lie within the limits of the ferries described in the lease of 1830. It was then that Wm. Mathew, the surviving lessee, bethought him of the covenant for quiet enjoyment,and demanded compensation from Lord Boston. Matter referred to two arbitrators; in case of failure to agree, to an independent umpire. The main purport of the two papers is to maintain that the aforesaid umpire admitted evidence irregularly without an opportunity for cross-examination of witnesses (evidently his decision was adverse to Lord Boston's interests). It was in August- September, 1840, that the arbitrators and umpire dealt with the case.
Note: There is at present (May, 1942) in active preparation at the press and authoritative work on the Ferries of cos. Anglesey and Caernarvon written by the late Doctor H.R.Davies of Glanaethwy; when the work appears it will be interesting to see if there are any references in it to the "pirate" boats on the Straits in the twenties and thirties of the last century |