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Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5586, 20 January 1879, Page 4

Desektion from a ship is, on the part of a seaman, a grievous offence. It is punishable by law, and the most humane of masters is often obliged, by a sense of duty, to have recourse to the law. It is therefore impossible not to sympathise with Mr Scoular, the gentleman who appeared before the Lyttelton Bench the other day seeking 1 justice against a seaman of his named Trot, who had committed the unnecessary and unpardonable sin of desertion from the barque Examiner. The evidence discloses the extreme humanity and gentle refinement of Mr Scoular’s character. As we read one sympathises with him for having been compelled, by stem duty, to appeal to the law for the punishment of a fellow creature, and we wonder at the same time how any one could have been misguided enough to escape from the service of such a kind master. The exemplary Scoular having seen from the certificate of a competent medical man that his man was unfit to go to sea, proceeded to hunt about for another medico more complaisant. He found one who gave a certificate by no means allowing that the man could do heavy work, but which Mr Scoular interpreted to suit hia own ideas. What these ideas were ho showed when the much be-doctorod seaman appeared on board the ship Mr Scoular. iu the most polite manner, fequested him to assist in manning the anchor- windlass. The unfortunate wretch explained that he was physicallv unfit for work of this kind. Safi probably relied on the two medical certificates, a sufficient corroboration not of his words, but of the testimony of the boils and sores which were in eloquent force on his unlucky person. But he relied in vain. The result of his mild expostulation was different from what he anticipated. He found himself seized by the light hand of the manly but excited Scoular— Mr ScouW admitted in Court that be was eSd attbUetage H!, ahirt ga„ the grasp of the manly Scoular. whereupon the manly Scoular, who seems to model his conduct after the examnle nt the immortal Mr Chucks in one re«i J —Mr Chucks used to resort to persSd correction occasionally—struck hi three times. After this what could

be expected from the be-doctorod V, certificated cripple but flight, and £ Sconlar pursued him, no doubt, and 1,in a manly, bat excited manner, round the deck many times. The most ex‘ ra , ordinary thing of the whole story that the unfortunate, misguided of boils and sores and a manly «kipp f . r at this stage of the proceedings overboard, and swam towards a no;-,;,, bouring vessel. Mr Scoular, properly, refused to lower a When, as it was sworn in Court, ho to those who asked that a boat rm-w be lowered, “ Let him swim,” he v a ?ni doubt justly angry at the man’s g,ingratitude. But his natural softn<.- a of disposition and sense of justif-o sently returning, the manly Mr Seoul. ir signified his gracious pleasure t ;’ a . some ropes might be lowered in the peccant swimmer should feel an irresistible desire to return to his kind master. As no such good impulse earn* to him, or if it came was for some uuaccountable reason rejected, the manly Scoular was forced by a painful sense of duty to prosecute him for desertion Poor Mr Scoular! To think of w ' r , a , might havehappened tohim. If that misguided seaman had gone to the boltominsteadof to the other ship, the excellent Mr Scoular might at this moment have been contemplating the probability 0 f soon seeing his manly body fall from a high place at the end of a rope; or the gentlemen who leave the seaport lowa daily in uniform for an airing on the road of the district, might have stood for a definite period between the manly Scoular and a sorrowing world. But the inconsiderate seaman was for once considerate, and escaped to the other ship. Immediately Mr Scoular appealed to the law to punish his enormously criminal desertion, and poured forth the harraasing tale of his woes into the ear. of an, unsympathetic Bench, it will scarcely be believed that the manly ScpuW’s charge against the inconsiderate! seaman was dismissed, perhaps it will shock a liberal-minded public to leam that the inconsiderate seaman’s case of assault against the manly Scoular was ended by the infliction of an enormous fine upon the manly Scoular. Twenty shillings and costs does not look large in the abstract, but as a punishment for the really handsome conduct ci Mr Scoular —he calls himself Captain Scoular—all will admit it is of unparallelled enormity. The moral of this charming idyll of the sea is that, whatever may be the case with other services, in the British mercantile marine the power of the master mariner is always exercised with a discretion and moderation that cannot be too highly commended or too often exhorted. TVe hope Mr, we beg his pardon, Captain Secular’s owners will remember the service he has done to the mercantile marine, and promote him. The best thing we can wish the captain is that some unhappy error in judgment may bring him within reach of the law in a place where the Bench is a little more severe than in our genial old Lyttelton. If the manly Scoular and some wretched, crippled, crawling toiler of the sea should have a falling out some day, early, and the crawler were to die, there might he promotion for Mr Scoular. He doubtless lives in hope. If he does not get his desires, we trust he may get his deserts.