MAORI STEAMS OUT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1643, 9 January 1913, Page 8

MAORI STEAMS OUT.

| NO APOLOGY. TALK OF A LIBEL ACTION. THAT- "V.G." DISCHARGE. . , THE NEW FORM OF . DOCUMENTThe ferry Maori left for Lyttelton at 8 o'clock last evening,. which means—to use tho phrase of the secretary of. tho union—that tho pother has "fizzled out." . > , Last Friday the firemen on the sliip, 27 in number, stated in effect that they would not run the vessel until a written apology, signed by whoever was responsible for' a certain Press Associatiori message, which indicated that the firemen on the Maori had refused to take the ship to I'icton on New Year's-Day unless they received 30s.j extra pay for the trip, was published. They did ; not take the ship south that night, and alto-' gcther the Maori lost two ■ round itripfc but- last night the men toolr her away, No apology has been .published yet, and it is exceedingly unlikely that it will ever be published.. .. Ship' Hoists. tho "Blue"Peter." ■ It was precisely four o'clock when the "Blue Peter", was run,up 011, the foremast of : the Maori, and . by., that time it was quite certain that ,a.full crew could be found' to go into the stokehold. At 12' noon Mr. W. A. -Kennedy, manager of 'the company in Wellington, decided that there was atleast a reasonable chance of dispatching the steamer, and ' he sent instructions to the chief.engineer to do his best to- get steam on tho boilers. This usually takes about eight hours, and it was thought advisablo to be prepared in case the-men should'come back. The engineers must have done their work Y\"ith a limited staff very .well, for the Maori •had a full head of steam on at eight o'clock, apd she began to move Sway frem her berth v at the Queen's Wharf at two .niinutcs after eight o'clock. . , ' No attempt was mado to move the Maori from the Clyde Quay Wharf- until the men had finally decided to take her to Lyttelton,. arid the.company-was not advised of this decision until about 3.30 p.rn: Then the ship was'brought over to a. more .'convenient : berth, gangways were put, out, and' it .was announced that she: would sail at the . usual hour-8 p.m. The. Meeting—Men Decide to "Turn 'Toi'.| A infesting of tho men out of the.Maori •was held in the aftoriioori, and it was 'at this meeting that the. men, "turn"to" again. They, also deoided'that .'the'-action for. slander, against the 'Priss' Association should be.,prosecuted. If tho men' hud .still' refused. to work,' howeyer,; it is. a ; fact that there were number ;of ineilibers of the union (though, p'erhaps, not sufficient to make up the;complement) who were willing to sign. on. to work, tho Maori.. Obviously; a' crew would have been' procurable in", a: .'Viry, few days. ~ After the meeting Mr:' C. Holdsworth, general manager of tits Union Company,■ and Mr. W: A. Kennedy, of the Wellington branch, : were advised that'a crew was offering for -the. yessel, and instructions wefe-given at>oric6 that the Maori should 'be brought*"over to . the Queen s Wharf. Then the '■men went up to the Government Shipping', Offico to sign on. The'rest of the crew were.,to have been paid' off yesterday, but :,in view - of the possibility of the steamer running again the officers' arid men were retained, and they are .'now comfortably established: in their regular billets . again. Sailing—Two Firemen Clamber on. About three hundred and fifty passengers went to Lyttelton last night, which is about tho usual number. People'who'. urgently, desired to get there had evidently rushed to catch tho, two steamers of tho, previous day, and , consequently there was'llo, rush yesterday.-. Somo. 290, people, on the wharf at the sailing hour, 'but there was' no. uncommon excitement,';It ,was hard to believo. that anythlrig un : : usual was happening. At tho very last moment, after .the gangways removed, two firemen, with, their bundles,, 1 caiiie along at a run, and clambered _on to tho deck. And they climbed so nimbly 'that it was quite • clear they had ,not dallied on the way to the Bhip. Tho Mails and S.S. Kent.; \ Beforo it was known that , theire would .be a steamer on the ferry run last night, arrangements hael been made to have the mails carried to Lyttelton -by .the s.s. Kent, which left aljoiit 7.30 p.m. Wheii I : it was certain that the. Maori would'go I this arrangement was . cancelled. . The I wool buyers who had. been attending the Wellington, sale yesterday'were- also going south by the-Kent ,to bo iri time for 'tlie.next sale.in , ,■ . .-, SIGNING ON. . ' ,-' HALF THE STOKERS GO BACK. ' About 4 p.m. yesterday the Superiritendent of Mercantile Marine at . Wellington received word that' the "MaOri Crowd would sign on."' A few minutes later Mr. Young and a number, of men?entered the Government shipping office and tho latter commenced to sign the Maori's articles". The work '.proceeded quietly without any "argument, and at's p.m. the vessel had a full complement of men with the exception of four firemen and tw'o, greasers. These' places were filled before ,the Maori sailed. . ' ' It, is interesting to note, that tho, original stokehold crew of the Maori did riot go back in the yessel. "Out of the 27 meri /who came ashore on Friday last only 13 returned. The 14 new men comprised firemen, greasers,"; and trimmers 'who, had been on the steamers Warrimoo," Arahu'ra, and To Anau. In addition to these, two men who stated that they had not been to sea befjjre ' were signed, on as trimmers. •: .■-■■ THE LIBEL IDEA. "WHAT MR. YOUNG WANTS. , Mr. W. T. Young, secretary of the union, stated to a-Dominion reporter last night, that the slander [libel?] action against the Press Association would as-' suredly go on. 'It was suggested to him that the solicitors, consulted might advise against'this. To" this Mr. Young . replied: • "I won't take that adviiio from them. I'll tellthem what to do. I want to get the Press Association into Court, and I want .to get -— and —• (mentioning the names of two journalists whom he evidently supposed were the'parties responsible for the transmission 1 of'the offending message) into the witness-box on oath." It was suggested that, this might coSt a deal of money,,and'that no damages could possibly bo recovered. Mr. Young's answer was: "We've got a "bob' or two." THAT "V.G.".DISCHARGE. ' , CHANGE NOW, CONTEMPLATED.,-', An addition is being made to. the form lof the official log of a, ship", and to the dischargo form of seafaring men, which may possibly have some effect in. stop' ping tho frolics of firemen. Hitherto a. captain has had no. oppprtunity to report upon a man's sobriety in giving his discharge. > The two heads under which lib reported were "Character , and Conduct," and "Character for Ability." It niight bo presumed that conduct would include habits in to strong drink, but in point of'fact it was generally pro- ' suraed that it did not. ; Many men who missed passages because they were 'dr\ink somewhere in the town instead of being on tlieir ships have been given a "V.G." discharge- for conduot. This has miido the V.G. certificate absolutely value--less as a guide to the ' master who is-, engaging new men, and to provide against a continuance of this laxity a new heading for report is,-being ; added to. the discharge forms shortly to be issued, "Character for -Sobriety." Tho new form is not yet in usonn Wellington, but it will be brought, into use"shortly. ARE CAPTAINS CAREFUL? THE SIGNING OF DISCHARGES, Captain Smith,' of ' the Government Shipping Office, discussing thi« addition' . to tho :£orm yesterday, said that somo

years ago it' was not necessary to report uj)Dli a man's sobriety, because comparatively few. of tho men drank to excess. Ruccnt happsnings,' however, hud. shown that spine report of this sort was of the utmost importance, Now drunkenness was a very soridus trouble. Captains of vessels, too,, ho said, were very much at fault in giving good' discharges' to men whoso conduct, as shown by tho official logs, was by no means satisfactory. Generally, masters did.not want to bo bothered by men leaving tho ship, and they gjivfi V,G. discharges to save argument and possible ;unpleft?antiicss:' He produced ono discharge which ho was holding up for' inquiry. The - man was certified' as of "very good" character, and in a short voyage the log showed that he had once been absent without, leave, and that ho had in the end missed his passage. Captain Smith stated that during tho short time this new form had been in use, for it is already in use in some ports, there had been a considerable improvement', in ; the conduct of. men so,'far as missing their_ passages is concerned. • •It is scarcely necessary to remark that a failure of this kind on the part of;'«i ,shipmaster ■to a' correct report on the charactcr of'a member of liis crew;,'is. a breach of the law. The Shipping and Seamen Act provides that "Where a. sealnhn, is, discharged before .a superintendent,'tho master shall make'nnd sign, in a. form .approved.by tho -Minister, a report of the conduct, character, and cjuali-' Mentions of. the seaman discharged, or ■pnay state, in „tlio sajd.lform '.that .ho declines to givo any opinion upon such particulars, or upon any of them," And the Act says also;—" Every person is guilty of a crime who.mnkcs ft/false report of character under this Act, .knowing the samo to be false.",' . ..'"