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Marlborough Express, Volume XIII, Issue 1081, 23 November 1878, Page 6

Wellington, Nov. 21. The Resident Magistrate, m delivering judgment m the case of the wreck of the City of Auckland, after quoting the clauses of the Aot under which the inquiry was held, stated that as the'assessors appointed to inquire into the case with him had not agreed it devolved upon him to give an independent judgment. Having carefully gone over the evidence taken, and con■idered the entries made m the official and ship's logs, and having conferred with the assessors, he was of opinion that the loss of the vessel was caused by the master having laid off the position of ship incorrectly on the charts, such error having arisen through his having inadvertantly pricked his distance from longfcitude instead of latitude, making a variance of 14 or 15 miles, and overrun his distance, through not knowing the rate at which the vessel was going, probably arising from the imperfect or incorrect information on the admirably chart, thereby causing him to mistake Kapiti for Stephen's Island. The Eesident Magistrate was further of opinion, that, assuming the master to have been where he thought he was at the time he marked his false position on the chart, the courses taken by him were right an.l the same a^ are used by the majority of masters coming through the straits. He considered the master culpable m not using the deep sea lead. The fact of sounding would not have determined his actual position : such errors as these would be considered serious m the Eoyal Navy, and could hardly have happened but iv the merchant service. A practice almost amounting to a custom exists for masters to work oat their own observations without consultation with the officers. Heconsideredthe practice veryreprehensiblebut, it would not be be fair to punish a particular master for doing that which is done by nearly every n aster m the service. Taking into consideration the confidence placed m him by the owner, and the implicit reliance placed on him by the officers, and his praiseworthy and energetic conduct m successfully landing all the passengers and crew without loss of life, the Resident Magistrate was not prepared to Bay that the master had acted m such a culpable manner as to justify the snspension of his certificate. The judgment was baaed upon the less stringent rules regulating merchant service rather than the mere service code of the Royal Navy. The decision was influenced by the assessors representingthe'merchant service rather than the. other assessor representing the Royal Navy. The conduct of either of the other officers of the ship required the slightest censure. All the certificates are returned.