AN EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12573, 7 August 1901, Page 6

AN EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR.

SENSATIONAL OCCURRENCES AT THE BLUFF. SCENES OF LAWLESSNESS. [Pub Press Association.] INVERCARGILL, August 6. A melee in which- the officers and crew of the steamer Oceana and some oystermen were concerned, has occupied the Stipendiary 'Magistrate.at the 'Bluff for the past two days, and the hearing has ’not yet concluded. So far as it has gone it discloses gross lawlessness on the part of the officers of the Oceana, which is a large vessel loading oats for South Africa. In a case of assault preferred against J. PTurners master, and G. H. Miles, second officer of the Oceana, the complainant, A. Phillips, said that at. 11.20, on the night of July 30, Miles demanded oysters from him on the wharf, and being refused knocked Phillips down. Miles then- —ew a whistle, and all hands came ashore, including the captain in pyjamas, to his assistance. The fight became -general, and D. Matheson, third engineer of the Oceana, fired- a revolver at one Spencer, a cutter man, who had taken to the water. Spencer said that he was grabbed as he swam alongside the dredge, and was ducked till he was nearly dr-owned. He got away and made for a Maori house ashore. He was followed, and another shot fired at him. He got into -the house, -and after -a demand by his pursuers, another shot was fired at the house, the bullet being found in a weatherboard. -Meanwhile an extraordinary outrage was perpetrated on Phillips. He was forcibly dragged to the steamer’s side. A rope was passed round him, and he was hoisted on deck, kicked and beaten with a board, dragged in the bathroom and lavatory/and; handcuffed, and locked up till the police, after some prevarication, liberated him. The defence was that Phillips was the aggressor, but the Magistrate said that his story was the more reasonable one, and much of the evidence of the accused was untrue. He was of opinion that the accused joined to make a, reprisal on shore men, that the captain assisted or directed in dragging Phillips, and that both were responsible for; everything that was done. The captain might not be primarily to blame. He had been told that four or five men had on to the second- -mate, and, no doubt, was indignant, but nothing could justify his standing by and allowing the -brutal outrages committed. Miles was fined £7 10s, and the Captain £2 10s. Counsel having stated that ho would appeal, the accused were each fined- £5 Is to enable him to do so. Matheson, on engineer of the vessel, was next charg-ed with shooting at John Spencer, who stated that lie was not the cause of the row, in fact he went to the assistance of Miles. He saw accused come down a ladder from the Oceana. All the oystermen, went aboard one cutter. Accused sprang aboard and poked his arm down the hatchway, -and said that he would shoot the first that moved. Spencer pulled off his sweater and hat, got on- deck, and slipped over the side, as he did not like, the look of things. He swam to- the other wharf, got out of the water and soon met Miles, accused and another. Miles said, “This is one of the ,” struck him on the month, and knocked- him over the wharf. He fell on the deck of a cutter. They rushed after- him, and he again took to the water. -Some one cried “ if you don’t come back I will shoot you, and immediately a shot was fired, and he heard the bullet strike, near him. Then followed the ducking episode, in which he alleged the first officer of the Oceana and a coloured man were the offenders. They dragged him up on the wharf, wherehe saw Captain Turner and the accused running about, the former- singing out to take him (Spencer) aboard and court martial him. He broke away, and as he ra.n for the township he heard another shot, and yet another when dn the -Maori house. Accused was the worse for liquor. A fireman at the freezing works, close hy, heard the fining, and saw three men follow Spencer to the Maori house, where they made a demand for admission. The Court is still sitting. The affair has -caused excitement at the port.