MASTER'S ERROR OF JUDGMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 83, 7 April 1936, Page 12

MASTER'S ERROR OF JUDGMENT

HIS CERTIFICATE RETURNED

The judgment of the Court set up by the direction of the Minister of Marine (the Hon. P. Fraser) to rehear the inquiry into the stranding on February 2 of the inter-island express steamer Rangatira was delivered this afternoon. Dealing first with the legal point raised during the proceedings, as to whether the Court had jurisdiction to rehear the inquiry (to which fourteen pages of judgment were devoted), his Honour held that section 243 of the Shipping and Seamen Act, 1903, must'be regarded as a valid exercise of the power conferred upon the New Zealand Legislature by section 735 of the Imperial Act quo ad ships registered in New Zealand. In other words, his Honour held that the Minister had jurisdiction to order, and the Court to hold, a rehearing.

On the facts of the case, the Court, namely, his Honour and with him the two assessors, Captains L. C. H. Worrall and F. W. Baron,, came to the conclusion that in all the circumstances,, the master's proceeding as he did at two minutes past six-was, in their opinion, an error of judgment. In view, however, of Captain Cameron's unblemished record over a career of thirty-five years, and of the superb seamanship shown by him after, the disaster— but for which many lives might have been lost—and of.the undoubtedly abnormal tide which caused the vessel to be set to the west so far out of her course, the Court considered that his certificate should not be affected.

Dealing with the conduct of the ship's wireless:operator,- Mr. L A .Hudson, the judgment stated that the Court was not prepared to accept the view that compliance with the regulations was a matter left to the discretion of-the wireless officer. It was his duty to carry out the instructions of the master of the ship, but in so doing he should comply with the regulations as to the distress procedure. It was only fair to the wireless officer to say that in the present case no 111 result followed from his failure to sen^out the alarm signal preceding the distress call and message. The Court had apparently no jurisdiction over the certificates of wireless officers, but in any event it did not recommend, in all the circumstances oTthe case that the officer's certificate should be prejudicially affected.

The Court stated that there was no doubt the vessel stranded on one of the rocks in the neighbourhood of Tom's Rock. The real question for consideration.was,whether at 6.2 a.m. when he saw land which he concluded to be Taurakirae, the master was justified in proceeding as he did in the conditions that existed. If he did everything which an experienced mariner could do, adopting ordinary caution, but a casualty nevertheless took place, he would be entitled to be exonerated from all blame. The Court, however, was unable,to say that that was the position. The conclusion by the master and chief officer that the headland they saw was Taurakirae was quite intelligible; . that was the land that they expected to see. But nevertheless the. vessel was three miles off her assumed course, and further than that oft the actual course set, and the Court was of opinion that the master was not justified" on his view merely of what must have been only a portion of the headland, in the poor visibility that obtained at the time, and having regard to the possible vagaries of the tides in Cook Strait, of which every mariner knewT' in coming to an absolute conclusion, that; the land he saw was Taurakirae Head, and in acting upon that conclusion by proceeding at a speed of 16 knots peV hour. Even at the earlier stage, namely, at 5.35 a.m., when the master came on deck, the Court was of opinion that he should, in the conditions that existed, have taken the way off his ship and obtained a D.F. bearing to check his estimation of his position. Seeing that that was not done, the conditions at 6.2 a.m.'when the headland was sighted called for special caution, and the ship should have been stopped until the general conditions improved to such an extent as to enable the master to locate his position with absolute certainty, or he had at least obtained a D.F. bearing in order to

heavy cost of our new capital ships, which are unlikely to be of less displacement than 33,500 tons. ■ Hopes are still cherished that the United States naval authorities will.in a few years' . time consent to review the question of battleship dimensions, which in the opinion of all other naval experts are unduly inflated. A formal treaty embodying as its main features the annual exchange of information as to shipbuilding programmes and the new qualitative limits on future construction has already been drawn up, and will, it is expected, be approved at a plenary session. of the Conference, to be held at an early date.

Some minor technioal points remain to be settled, but unless an unforeseen hitch occurs in diplomatic procedure the acceptance of this new treaty for the limitation of naval armaments by the British Empire, the United States, and France is assured. The possibility of naval rivalry between those Powers during the currency of the treaty has thus been sensibly reduced.

STILL UNDER WAY. Negotiations with a view to bringing Germany and Russia.into the compact are proceeding. Germany has already signified her readiness to conclude with Great Britain a separate agreement covering all the points of the ThreePower Treaty, and Russia is understood to be willing to take similar action. Thus, the only Powers liable to remain outside the covenant are Italy and Japan. \ The former's abstention is due to political causes unrelated to the Conference itself. Should they cease to operate there is little doubt that Italy will accept the treaty, in the framing of which her own delegates have taken an active part. Japan is in a different case. Since the treaty is none of her making, she is most unlikely ever to become a signatory. Unofficially, however, she.will probably find it to her interest, alike for political and for economic reasons, to abide.by the qualitative restrictions of the new treaty. Whether she will take part in the, reciprocal exchange of information on annual programmes remains

to be seen. ■ Assuming the eventual adhesion of Italy, the new treaty will regulate for : a term of years the qualitative development of all the major navies of the world excepting the Japanese. Further, for as long as it remains in operation, the ■ exact strength of the naval forces of each signatory in any given year will be known to all the others, a fact which can hardly fail to allay mistrust and ill-feeling. That a conference which met in face of the most formidable difficulties should yet have produced these very substantial results is surely an achievement deserving full recognition. Although quantitative limitation has not been attained, on paper, it is generally believed that the excessive cost of modern naval material, particularly abroad, will act as an automatic brake on the future expansion of naval armaments. ■

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CANON A. F. WILLIAMS

A CANTERBURY PROTEST

check his assumed position. Referring to the three D.F. bearings, which were subsequently ■ obtained from the Tinakori Hill Station. after the vessel had got off the rocks, the Court said it was not until they were received that the master knew that the ship was in the vicinity of Sinclair Head and not as he had thought of Taurakirae Head. There was no doubt of the honesty of the master and the chief officer when they said that the land they saw they concluded to be Taurakirae Head. The Court, however, was forced to the conclusion that the visibility was so bad as to require more caution than was displayed. . The master expected to see Taurakirae and. concluded that that was the land that he did see. Though his conclusion; was natural enough, it should in the.circumstances that existed have been verified before the vessel was allowed to proceed further on her 16-knot voyage. . The Court made an order for the return of the captain's certificate and also the certificate; of the wireless operator. NO ORDER AS TO COSTS. The Chief Justice said'he had not made any order as to costs because the proceedings were' not of Captain Cameron's seeking. But it appeared to-him that Mr. Cooke might want to challenge the judgment of the Court regarding jurisdiction—he did not know whether or how he could, but it might help Mr. Cooke if an order were made for the'payment of costs.

' Mr. Cooke did not ask for any order, and Mr. Cornish gave'his assurance that Mr. Cooke would not be prejudiced in any event by the fact that no order was made against Captain Cameron. The Minister had been concerned to see only1 that the principles of sound navigation. were vindicated. That had been done, and that was enough.