PROBATION GEAIvTED

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 96, 20 October 1934, Page 14

PROBATION GEAIvTED

FORGERY ON A HOLIDAY

"The fact that you went about this in such a stupid manner makes! me think you really have riot any criminal .tendencies; the matter is more a stupid act than anything else,"- said. Mr. ..Justice Reed in the Supreme Court today to John Lilian Brown, a youtlv who had-pleaded guilty at. Petone to a charge of forgery. ' Brown was admitted to probation for two years, and was ordered to pay the costs ot the prosecution,, £1 55,. as iustructcd by the. Probation Officer. . In reply to his.Honour. Brown said he wanted to go back to Greymouth, "where he hoped to find work again in the mines. He had conic to Wellington for a holiday. . .:■'■■ .

Mr. T. P. Mills, the -.Probation Officer, said he thought the Prisoners' Aid Society might be able to do something for Brown.

The capital of the Queensland Government when it- took- over from the New South Wales Government was 7%d. and not £7,500,000, as'was stated yesterday in the obituary notice of Mr." Magnus Mouat.

June 22, 18(36.—At half-past eight this morning the noble steamship Kaikoura, the first steamer to open tho Panama line, entered our harbour. (Extract from "The Post.") Sixty-eight years ago this most important event took place; a long-await-ed occasion which politicians had argued about and citizens had dreamed about for a decade and more. l?or the opening of the, service between New Zealand and Panama several people had to be thanked: Mr. Champion "Wetton for one. He had visited Australia and New Zealand some years before and took back to Britain sufficiently encouraging information that an English company was established and suitable ships expressly built. The Opening of the servico was only a question of months when an annoying hiatus, in Hie nature of the Crimean War, saw the ships commandeered to moot military requirements. That held up proceedings for a good many years until Mr. Crosbio Ward helped things, along by fostering the move to establish the service. He journeyed to Britain with a contract practically completed, but suffered. bitter disappointment by its non-ratifica-tion. The contract, however, was never pushed aside but only changed somewhat.'

Of the tremendous wrangles between Auckland, Duuedin, and Wellington as to their rights to serve as the intermediate port between Sydney and Panama a good deal is probably known, although possibly the delightful offhandedness of Mr. J. Vogel in saying that Wellington could never be a great commercial city a7id that it could never equal Auckland or Dunedin has possibly been forgotten. On^ August-25. 1565, Mr. R, Graham, one of the Auckland -M.P.'s, went so far as to move: That, in the opinion of

this House, \jf would bo conducive to the interests of the colony and the success of the-postal service by way of Panama to make the ports of Auckland and Otago the ports of arrival and departure to and from Panama respectively, and that a respectful address be submitted to his Excellency the Governor requesting, him to give effect to the foregoing resoilitipn in finally concluding any contract---between the colony and any company who may undertake such postal service. Mr. Graham said that he believed there would be a saving of two 'days between Panama and Sydney by thexadoptiori of the course pointed out.

Erbni that time on words flowed freely. Auckland, never very amicable with Wellington, was sticking out for the honour of being the port,of call. Dun-sdior.-.-added a chant on -similar linos. Wellington defended her position, stoutly, fortunately with some logical arguments, and eventually won through. It was obvious that a central port was more suitable for the quick distribution of mails than a port located at either the northern or southern end: pi' the colony. Mr., Crosbie Ward was. an ardent supp6i'ter.;:'of-.the. local, merits.;

: ;So by ; and^y.ia-goncpri^tlvat rejoiced' in the ;najme ; <)fsthe. janama^ New Zea-•}iria^:;-i and"V;Sustrallft,J;.Boyal--Mail Com-pan^:-gpt-sgpl^^'aiid''!lS\i(ilt four new ships to d.O the/jobV First in,commission was ] the^Kaikoura, 1501 tons gross—the ship that finishes her maiden trip from Britain to Melbourne. -with a< propeller miinis two blades,,'pne disappearing near ;Stv';Helenaarid:Jin,other about 500 miles: frbm Port Phillip.'":,-"-,: ■■

A. few details: of the-vessel might not be amiss';, her*length was 268 ft, breadth 33ft, and. depth of hold 27ft. She had four ; ;boilers And. .engines' of 400 n.h.p. She was -built. by Charles Lungley, of Deptf orfl, and had accommodation for 100 saloon arid -80 second-class passengers. One, of her "striking features" was "the connection below deck of the several _parts. of the vessel, the. passengers, being; able, to walk almost her whole length without going above." No wonder: she-/ earned' the distinction of being noted.by_ "The Post"'of 1866 as' "the finest Ship that has ever graced our harbour." Tho remainder of this notable quartet of ships were named tho Rualiine, Eakaia, and Mataura.

The Kaikoura left Sydney on her first trip across the Pacific on June 15, 1860, and after being delayed by bad weather reached Wellington on Juno 22. T*iat Tasman voyage was responsible for her boats being washed from their davits— the stern boat lost, tho starboard boat stove in—for part of tho top-funnel gear being torn away, and almost all of the livestock going to a salty sepulchre. She was obliged to travel dead-slow for 50 hours, eventually sighting Mount Egmont and hoving-to off Mana Island before she could enter Port Nicholson. She brought 38 passengers from Sydney, ten of whom were for Southampton and 15 for Panama.

The contract time for her voyage to Panama was 28 days, but so well did she make tho pace that she arrived two days ahead of schedule. She reached Panama on July 20- —twenty-six days from Wellington—with a full complement of passengers, "a novelty in the annals of steam-boating," according' to tho Panama "Star" of that time. To American merchants the opening of the line was of great importance, as it brought New Zealand within 35 days of a portion of the world which could not hitherto be reached in double that time.

The Kaikoura arrived at Wellington on her return trip on August 25, that year, bringing seventeen passengers ami tho English mail of July 2. Mails had been formerly carried' by the P. and 0. Company and the regular saving of time by the transfer was estimated to bo about ton days. Incidentally, the Pacific run was asserted to be then "the longest run in the \voHd."

What was described as a "somewhat cruel hoax" was perpetrated through the columns'of "The Post's" morning contemporary on September 15, 1884. The paper contained an account of an alleged spirit, communication, received by a eii'i-.10 in a ■wcll-lcnowri Wellington hole), fninoHiieinf; that the Manapouri harl been wrecked in Palliser Hay. Fortunately iiny nlarni whicli micht h;ivc been caused was dispelled by the Alanapouri herself arriving soon after pu'bli-

s I hand note on tlio side of a lifeboat un- : I noticed by him. "Don't be rude," ho replied, and playfully threw a marlin spike at mo.. "On the Chinese coast for ten years, was chief pilot at Coeos Island from 1870 to February 29, 1893, sailed the first ship in a fclockwiso direction three times round the Bay of Biscay, charted the Black Sea, navigated fifteen ships through the North-West passage, an' was the first skipper to win the grain derby from; Australia Homo sailin' a: brigfintino -backwards? What d'you think they'd do?'-' He paused for breath. "Yes," I affirmed mechanically. Ho went under again. "An' if they knew I once fell 270 ft off the topmast of a battleship and put a torpedo tube out of action and was wrecked eight times on consecutive lonely islands and had caught tho'Lqch'.Ness monster when he was only a .sand-eel an' thrown him back, an'—''■•: : -: "Wait a minute!!" I screamed, writing furiously. ■' '■■■■.■ . "An' actually oncchcld off a nratinous crew with-nothiri' but a pair o' saucepan lids .an'-lia'd ' .been droppod oyorboar.d.npaj^Ca.po. ilorit. and swum the \vlibie>:w.ay : to i- Cardiff and beat m|-. ship' : ;homcrT-what '•'.&;■:'. tho^';.'.do? . You don >t -know? ■SjWe!i|l?li teliyqu. They 'd bo -pest'rin': tfexlifb otit of ,'taie to, tell 'cm about m&.;expcriences, and!l'd havo to beach: thei-Sarah O'Flaherty for a week to tell 'em /about 'em. ' Bad for. trade,-that's.Ayhat it'd be!"' "How ofteii did you say you were wteckedt" I "asked, ■beginning to writo on the other, srdorof'the.lifebo'at. "Nine times ;U|)..tOvl!Jst \yednesday,:"he,replied.;■;;'.!'An *;!',?&-been; skipper of tiiis ''ere Sarah sirl.ce-:iji|}j:>44, 1912, an'nio mother's nanie"was;:Jane and I was born on Toronto aii': me father was a Norwogiait tailor. "But I'm only tellin* you this to show what I mean." ■ "Quite, J? I; answered. "I've been taking a fewV-notes on this lifeboat about somothing I was thinking of while you were tajking. Do you mind?" "Nofr;at all;'«he smiled shyly, kicking a hole in the deck. "Not at all. Take it away witli you; we've got another one left." "Thanks,." said I and turned to walk down the bowsprit on to the wharf. "Oh, I say!" ho cried after me. "Yes?" . "Send mo 400 copies of the paper that that goes in, will you? Just for mo best friends,..of course."