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Auckland Star, Volume X, Issue 2771, 13 March 1879, Page 2

In discussing tho (Incision of the Court of Inquiry -.vhicli adjudicated upon tho oircunistancea Attending the loss of tho Taupo, wo promised to return to tho subject. Touching the merits of tho Inquiry and the decision of tho Court there is not much more to bo Kiiid. Wo boliove the shifting of tho buoy nnd its improper position is not denied, but it is still maintained that tho wreck was not attributable to that causo, but was duo to tho taking of tho clmnnol in the wrong way, and want of duo allowance for tho strong tide. Without ro-opou-ing the question, it should bo observed that any opinion concerning what might or might not havo happened if the buoy had been in its proper place is pure speculation. It was not thero ; and tho nogligenco which left it out of position, despite repeated warnings, is moro reprehensible than anything that Captain Cromarty did, and which tho Court doomed worthy of punishment so Bovere. On Marino Investigations in general it may be said that they are something more unsatisfactory than " crowner's 'quests." To conduct an inquiry of tho kind requires not merely good judgment, but technical knowledge. Yot the largo powers vested in those Courts are often entrusted to some country magistrate or rough-and-ready master of a cargo boat. This, of course, in no sunso applies to thoTanpo inquiry, for, if wo oxcept tho responsibility resting on the Marine Department in connection with the shifted buoy, and the consequent questionable justico of an ollieer of tho Department sitting as a judge, tho Court was unusually well constituted. Than (Japtain Johnston we boliove thero is no moro thoroughly qualified navigator iv New Zealand. But, laying asida tho possibility that other eases may arise in which tho Marine Department is blanmble, Captain Johnston could not, with his many other duties, combine that of general assessor for inquiries into marine accidents. Thero is, therefore, a necessity for tho appointment of a permanent assessor— one for each island would be best— who would exercise a kind of magisterial supervision in marine matters, and would owo no nllcgianco, so far as judgments are concerned, mther to the Government or to those who may come before tho Court. It is not essential that tho oflice should be a stall* appointment, it would readily bo undertaken by any properly-qualified marine fiurvoyor, if the duties wero divided in the manner suggested. It is unjust to place the reputation and means of livelihood of captains at the mercy of any "scratch" Court that may bo got together near tho scene of a wreck, and at tho same timo it ia also most desirable that tho public shall havo a guarantoe that careless navigation will not go unpunished. Wo understand that Captain Johnson has had some step of tho kind under consideration, and perhaps his present stay in Auckland may afford tho opportunity of making arrangements for the .North Island.