A SEVERE SENTENCE.

NZ Truth, Issue 72, 8 December 1906, Page 5

A SEVERE SENTENCE.

THE CASE OF ALBRIGHT. A First Mate Loses His Certificate. The Crew of the Cassius " Crack " the Cargo. A little over six months ago the ship Cassius arrived at Wellington from Liverpool with a mixed cargo —very much mixed. On arrival at this port an information was laid for broaching cargo, with the result bhat the first mate, Albright, went up for six months. Albright did his sixer, which may have been all right, or all bright, or very much the other way. But, however, when he came out he found that his certificate had been commandeered by the Board of Trade and sent to England. He therefore can't get a "berth until he gets that certificate, and he can't very well get that certificate unless he goes to En-gland— a proposition hard to buck when a man is stoney. On the surface of things it may appear that an officer of a vessel entrusted with the safe keeping and proper handling of oargo deserves all he gets if he fails m that trust. But if his lapse happens to be only very small, and" he takes Out his tmnishment m the way of an . ordinary criminal, he > should, at least be given another chance. It is a monstrous punishment that satisfies the law and a private tribunal as well. If a court of law says six months' goal is SUFFICIENT PUNISHMENT for a crime, has any private or semir private body the right to add to that punishment 'by taking away a man's means of earning^ livelihood. It means that if a tradesman commits a crime warranting him receiving a certain term of imprisonment he only receives a very small portion of the ■ punishment meted out "to the. marine officer for a like crime. The • one may serve his sentence and resume his trade, the other must begin life all over again. What does this mean to a man advanced m years— a man with a family ? It is Hell. But to return to the case of Albright. Let him tell his own story. It may not be strictly accurate, but it has at least a ring of truth about it. This is how Albright describes the voyage of the Cassius from Liverpool :— "'Shortly after we left port we struck dirty -weather, and all the way across the Bay of Biscay we had a very bad time. The captain had used up all the medical comforts m very short time, and the. crew 'got into the hold amongst the cargo. As first officer it was my duty : to protect "Hie 'cargo,, and I did my best, but although the carpenter boarded up all the holes from the foreoastle into the hold the men broke through tbem time after time. We hadn't a very good crew, and with the weather .that we ex- J perienced I had mv work cut out to keep the ship afloat. In fact so bad did things, get that a deputation from tbe fouecastle waited upon me and asked me to take charge of the ship. Undoubtedly the 'cargo was being broached, and there wasn't a man on the ship that wasn't aware of it. When we were afaout a" fortnight from W'-iTlington I removed a case of whisky that was m the Ventilators,, and where it must assuredly have suffered damage,- to a safer spot. It was from this caste that I • ABSTRACTED THE TWO BOTTLES upon which I was convicted. But had it not been for me possibly the whole lot would have gone.' I don't know how the ship would have got on had I not teen there during the bad weather, as the crew was a scratch one, with only one or two men I could depend upon to do s»eamen's work. A good deal of the work that should have been done by the seamen I did wittr my own hands. I don't know why I should be the scapegoat. I did participate m some small, degree m the wrong, but I prevented the wrong being very much ..worse, and ' many of the men can. testify to this. When the charge was preferred against me I had no time"- to prepare a defence and tlie magistrate would' not listen, to th& story of the. voyage." Such is the story, or part of the story, of the first mate of the Cassius, and although at first siffht it may not be a, very convincing narrative, yet there are points about it which convinces this^ paper that at least Mr Albright should have' his certificate and a chance to prove that he is a trustworthy officer. In the firsit place Albright is not a youngster by any means, but an officer of many years' experience, and until this episode of the Cassius he has always held a "^ood character. And again, his offence does not appear to have been so great as that of some of the others. Then there were circumstances m con^ n-sefcion with his guilt which m a very large measure MITIGATE THE OFFENCE. He used every endeavor m the first place to prevent the men getting at the cargo, he had done two l men's work during the storms, and he was asked by the crew to take charge of the ship (an extraordinary request) and he declined. This fact went against him m the police court, as it was stated that the crew— in consequence- of partaking too freely of .the stolen liquor— were practically "m open mutiny and the mate made no effort to stop it. From all accounts the case seems to have been a very bad one, and m the interest of shippers it is only right tbat offenders m this respect ishould be severely punished. But not savagely punished. In receiving a sentence of six months Albright was punished m full measure and when his term was up he should have been allowed to take up life again where he left off. Instead of that he is condemned (unless the Board of Trade give him back his certificate) to start life at an advanced a<*e. without a profession— practically without a means of earn-i-n-e a livelihood, except such pittance as his untrained hands may earn at what is known as unskilled labor. The Board mi "lit do' well to consider this aspect of the case, even if it has to break its own hard rules of socalled justice.