MARINE CE.tifICATES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1404, 26 January 1899, Page 15

MARINE CERTIFICATES.

ALLEGED IRREGULARITIES. INFORMATIONS LAID AGAINST PROMINENT OFFICIALS. As the result of circumstances which have recently come to light, informations under section 32 of the Shipping and Seamen’s Act, 1877, have been laid against Captain Allman, Nautical Adviser to the Government, Inspector and Surveyor of shipping, and Chief Examiner of Masters and Mates (Marine Department), Captain George Vo.-i Schoen, teacher of navigation, and Captain Jones, of the steamer Duchess, plying between Wellington and Day’s Bay. The section referred to reads as follows :—“ Every person who makes or procures to be made, or assists in making any false representation for the purpose of obtaining for himself or for any other person a certificate of competency or service, or who forges, assists in forging, or procures to be forged, or fraudulently alters, assists in fraudulently altering, or procures to be fraudulently altered, any such certificate or any official copy of any such certificate, or who fraudulently makes use of any such certificate or any copy of any such certificate which is forged, altered, cancelled, suspended, or to which he is not justly entitled, or who fraudulently lends his certificate to or allows the same to be used by any other person, shall for each offence be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour.” The cases have been set down for hearing in the Magistrate’s Court on the 24th instant.

It is surmised that the present proceedings are indirectly the outcome of some very candid criticism of the Marine Department indulged in from his seat in Parliament by Mr J. Hutcheson, senior member for Wellington, during the debate on tfie Financial Statement in the early part of last session. Referring to what he conceived to be a lax state of things in connection with the issue of masters’ and mates’ certificates, Mr Hutcheson said:'—“l am informed by a responsible citizen that there is at the present time a captain in charge of a pas-senger-carrying coastal steamer who was allowed to fill in his examination papers in a private house. My informant also assured me, on his word of honour, that the candidate’s hand was guided in the formation of every letter and figure in the examination papers. . . . And, sir, this captain is in command of a vessel carrying living souls every day on the coast of New Zealand, and this is how he obtained his certificate of competency.” Mr Seddon : It is almost impossible for it to be correct. Mr J. Hutcheson: Well, I asked my informant, if ho were compelled by a superior authority to go and give evidence, what would he say in the event of his being charged with the onus of proving the fact P He said, “ I would ask the man to write his name, and he could not.” Mr Seddon: How long since is that ? Mr Hutcheson: Quite recently, sir.

. . . . The examinations of the mercantile marine if properly performed and honestly done are such that no man except of morel than ordinary educational ability can now perform. It is no light examination : and what can we think of it if the idea seizes hold o! one’s mind that it is possible by outside means to wrongfully get possession of these certificates ? After referring to the low salaries paid to the examiners as “an incentive and inducement to dishonest examinations,” Mr Hutcheson went on to refer to “ one more case.” “In the introduction of a new instrament called the ‘ deviascope,’ the working of certain examination papers was prepared outside the department, and certain clerical'errors, and erasures, and faults in the figures were made by toe preparer, and strange to say the papers of two successful candidates, now in the archives of the Marine Department, carry the same mistakes and erasures as the originals contain. But these candidates have got certificates and are now licensed to adjust compasses. Sir, the proper adjustment of compasses is an exceedingly important thing. The deviation card—a wrong deviation card in the hands of a captain of a steamer is as a lighted match in the hands of a child against the open mouth of a barrel of gunpowder. These are the possibilities, and I am drawing public attention to tho laxity of administration and to the necessity for tho Minister to master the details of his Department.” It is not professed that Mr Hutcheson’s remarks, as printed, have any direct reference to the present cases, but it is surmised that as the result of his statements inquiries were made which led to tho present proceedings being taken. A representative of this journal applied to the officials of the Stipendiary Magistrate’s Court for particulars as to toe processes issued, for public, ir f ormation, but met with a courteous refusal. An application to the responsible heads of the

Maline Department was equally nsnltless —in fact, a profound secrecy is being ob- ' • erve.d departmentally as to rhe proceedings taken and the reason tl ereof. In tl o meantime Captain Ailmaii has been suspended. j We understand that a d<q.? rtmenta! . inquiry altogether apart from tho Police \ Court proceedings is to Le held. j Sir Rwbeit Stout las, v.e understand, j been retained lo defend Captain Y-n Schoen. It is stated that one of the parties con- ! cerned threatens revelations of an extraordinary nature if certain eventualities i transpire. j