A DESERTER.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14408, 16 July 1912, Page 10

A DESERTER.

• SENTENCED TO A MONTH'S IM- . . PRISONMENT. Insertions from oversea steamers in New Zealand ports have been very rife during the past two or three years, and often result in an undesirable class of men remaining in tho country. The.., shipping companies havo taken -,7 .steps' to put a stop to wholesale desertions from their steamers, • and when offenders have btien: caught, a month's imprisonment has usually been their lot, at all events, in Lyttelton. Occasionally, however, the deserting seaman is .a decent, sober and respectable man, and his* case presents some extenuating circumstances, and it appears hard that he should .be sent to gaol to herd with criminals. A case in point.came before the-Lyttolton Polico Court yesterday, -when a neatly-dressed, re-spectable-lookiiig young fellow, was charged with'having deserted from the IJ-etnuera- at Wellington on April sth. He pleaded guilty, but stated that his lot on board the steamer had not been a pleasant one, as a.number of tho men with'jvhorn he had refused to associate, owing .to-their rough drunken habits. had made matters so warm for him that he had asked the captain to transfer'him to another steamer. This request had been refused, and in order to escape from the unpleasantness in the forecastle, ho had deserted. Since that time he had been in constant employment as a trimmer on the Mokoia. Captain R.-Hatch-well,- -representative of the New Zealand Shipping Co., said he bad to press the charge, as there had been so many desertions lately. The Ilemiiera was in London, and would not be .sailing for New Zealand until the 20th*inst. . The presiding Justice said ho was sorry for the young man, but he had no •option but- to sentence him to ono month's imprisonment.