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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7656, 5 June 1886, Page 4

Most people will foel satisfied with the action taken by the New South Wales authorities in resolving to prosecute for manslaughter the captain and second officer in charge of the ill-fated steamer the Ly-ee-moon. That the utmost carelessness was manifested in the management of the vessel cannot be doubted. And, though it may be difficult to say which of the two officers implicated is the more blameworthy, it is very evident that both were highly culpable. How it came to pass that the captain, in the early part of the night, and at a spot where more than usual care was called for, should have been so long below, and how any officer or seaman should on a clear night have steered straight for the lighthouse, seems at present inexplicable ; ana the explanations given at the inquiry appear to have thrown very iit.tlo light on these questions. And hence the call for further proceedings. It is well that persons holding such responsible positions as those do who are entrusted with property and life at sea, should be made to feel their responsibility, and the 1 action taken by the Sydney authorities will tend to have this efiect. Far more iMian the mere suspension of a certificate, »or the threat of dismissal or degradation**, should any misfortune,

however trivial, happen to the Teasels under their care, will the fact that in the event of any loss of life they are liable to prosecution, make officers of steamers exercise that vigilance which is only too apt to give place to laxity and indifference.