The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1896.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5460, 11 January 1896, Page 4

The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1896.

The captain of a ship is practically an autocrat, and it is right that this should bo so, since to him is committed the safety of the vessel and her cargo, and the yet higher Responsibility with regard to the lives of those on board. Still, it sometimes happens that a captain becomes brutally harsh in tho exercise of his power, and that he sometimes does things for which he has no warrant, legal or moral. A case of considerable interest in this regard has been heard in one of the London Courts. Tho quartermaster of a steamer sued the captain for wages, maintenance money and railway fares, amounting in all to .£6 15s 9d. In reality there were claims by twentytwo of the crew> but it had been arranged that the decision in one instance should govern the lot. The facts were these : — When-. 'the steamer was at l<ew York stevedores were employed in unloading and loading the vessel, and the day at last came for sailing home. On the morning of that dajt tho captain, called tho crew together, told them that stores had been stolen to tho value of .£ll 9s Id, and that this amount would bo deducted from their 'pages. There was a protest, and then the men aslred for permission to see the British Consul. Assent was grudgingly given, and the men went ; but as if; was Sunday the consulate was' closed. They went back to the steamer, and then the captain absolutely refused to receive them on board again, so that they had to make their way back to London as be3t they could. For the defence, there was practically no dispute as to the facts, and the only plea advanced — an utterly worthless one — was that the Captain was ignorant of ' the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act. One of the sections of that Acfc expressly forbids a captain to leave seamen, at a foreign port, unless ho has mado a report to tho Consul and a certificate has been given. The Magistrate, of course, had

to declare that the conduct of the captain was illegal from beginning to end; and an order was promptly made for payment of the wages, restoration of the men's clothing and payment of all costs. That captain will probably be a little niore careful for the future.

It is quite clear that if the Conservatives

were once more to gain the ascendancy in Parliament, there would be some retrograde movements, to say nothing of the 4 absolute certainty that we should have a "■•; return to class legislation in its worst form. Under existing circumstances, any man, no matter what his station in life may be, can seek to enter Parliament, since the democratic rule is that ho shall be paid for his services. The Conservatives, however, sneer at this aspect of the matter, and brand all representatives who are from the lower ranks in the social scale as paid demagogues and plundering professional politicans. In supporting the candidature of Mr Charles LBwis, the Halswell fanner — and a very successful farmer too, by the way — the Press lays stress upon two thing 3. In the first place, the Conservative candidate "is a , Christchurch man by birth and education." "Well, there are a good many Christchurch men " by birth and education," but it does not necessarily follow that on that account they should be sent to Parliament to represent the people. But tho special reason why Mr Lewis finds favour with the Press is because he happens to bo wealthy, and need not become a member of the House of Representatives for tho purpose of " making a living." How nice. How very nice. ' Will the Press bo good enough to tell us whether any one of its moneyed representatives has ever forgotten to take his pay regularly, or whether any one of them has ever applied that pay, which he did not need for himself, to philanthropic purposes ?