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ship touches, and with power to the captains to keep the offender or offenders in irons until they can be brought before a legally-constituted Court. It should, I submit, be incumbent upon shipowners and captains to cause notices describing the penalties for broaching cargo to be kept affixed in prominent parts of ships, so that they may be seen by crew and passengers. 7. If your Lordship will cause inquiries to be made, I am confident that the results will confirm the statement that this offence is now most common, and that, apart from the consequent disputes between shipowners and insurance offices, the commission of it is constantly attended with danger to property and life. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, &c. Julius Vogel.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1. [Times, April 27.] TJNSEAWORTHY SAILORS. Sic, — T° the Editor of the Times. Moved by the active exertions of Mr. Plimsoll and others, our Government has been stirred to devise legislative measures for the preservation of life on shipboard. I fear this object is not likely to be attained while we are at the mercy of that noble fellow Jack, on whose behalf such active sympathy has been elicited by the sad tale of his wrongs at the hands of hard shipowners, &c. I venture to ask you to publish for general information the following facts, attested by the surgeon, chief officer, and myself, and recorded in the official log of the ship the " Tweed," which is now deposited at the Board of Trade, and I think it will be evident how many a fine ship has come to the sad fate of the " Cospatrick." and many unfortunate passengers have met a watery grave. The " Tweed," under my command, sailed in June last from this port for New Zealand, having on board 639 emigrants, and a crew of 54, in all 093 souls. We had a prosperous and speedy voyage, without any drawback, except as regards the crew. "We had not been long at sea, when it was reported to me that the cargo was being plundered, and that naked lights were seen in the lower hold among all sorts of merchandise stowed there. Two of the ordinary seamen who had been seen passing sardines and preserved milk into the forecastle were brought aft, and, after being confined all day, confessed to the surgeon, chief officer, and myself, that they were sent into the hold by the crew, and also that several of the sailors had been a great many times into the hold with naked candles, surreptitiously obtained from the emigrants' lamps. Failing to find any spirits, which I had fortunately stowed aft with a strong bulkhead between them and other cargo, they broke open the emigrants' boxes and cargo packages, and helped themselves to what they could get. Before sailing, every possible precaution had been taken to prevent the crew gaining access to the hold ; but it was accomplished by the men cutting a passage through the coals, removing the bulkhead, and passing out the plunder, which they secreted under the coals until they could get it into the forecastle. "When this discovery was made, I refused to supply them with tobacco. Then their conduct became most disgraceful; they combined to neglect duty in every possible way, shamming sickness, &c, although pronounced by the surgeon to be quite well. Their conduct became daily more mutinous and disorderly, and they could not be kept out of the forecastle at night, although the ship was running in dark, foggy weather, and in the vicinity of ice; and as the lives on board were in jeopardy by such conduct, I had two of the ringleaders confined in a cabin under the surveillance of the surgeon, which brought about a better state of things among the remainder. Dn arrival in Otago, the ringleaders were brought before the police magistrate, and sentenced to four weeks' imprisonment with hard labour for neglect of duty, and eight weeks' for embezzlement of cargo. This is by no means a solitary instance of crews plundering cargo in outward-bound ships; in fact, there is scarcely a vessel going to the colonies whose owner does not have to pay heavily for loss so occasioned; but what is of much more consequence is, the danger to valuable lives by crews getting into ships' holds with naked lights amid inflammable cargo, whereby many a good ship and many unfortunate passengers have been sacrificed, whose fate could never be told, for the ships have been posted as " missing." "While I was in New Zealand, the " Cathcart," another emigrant ship, arrived at Lyttelton with mutiny on board. The crew had plundered the cargo, got at the spirits, and such a state of things arose that in self-defence the captain armed his officers, and three of the men were wounded, for which the captain was tried and acquitted, but the men were sentenced to three months' imprisonment. If Mr. Plirasoll would take a few trips from the Docks to the Downs in some of the outward bound, he would see a little of what masters have to contend with through the drunkenness and bad conduct of " poor ill-used Jack." Tours, &c., William Stuaht, Master of the " Tweed."

Enclosure 2 in No. 1. [Times, April 30.] UNSEAWORTHY SAILORS, gj^ To the Editor of the Times. Having perused a letter with the above heading, inserted in the Times of yesterday, from Captain "William Stuart, of the ship " Tweed," perhaps you may not think it out of place to insert a short narrative of my experience in command of the ship " Queen, of the Age," on her late voyage to New Zealand.

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