LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1846, 4 September 1913, Page 10

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

5 DEVON INQUIRY—APPOINTMENT J OF CAPTAIN BLACK. gj r —I Have road with mucli interest t the correspondence sent to the Minister for. Marino by Captain Caiuice's so- ' licitor in respect to tho Marino Dcpart- ' ment's appointment of Captain Black as ' ono off tho assessors on this case, and ; liavo also perused the Hon. F. M. B. t Fisher's reply. Captain Black applied " for tho position as coasting pilot to tho ' steamer Dovon for tho voyago from -! Auckland to this port-, and when offered t'lio position as assessor, in tho abovo " case, I think you will agree with mo " that the proper course for hiiil to liavo " adopted was to liavo refused, explaining to the Department that ho had applied '' for tho position as abovo stated, and v tlia't his services had not been accepted. 11 I do not wish to infer that this gentle- '■ man sat on this inquiry with a prejudic--11 ed mind, but if lie had taken tho course suggested by mo it would have obviated hinf.being placcd in tho peculiar posiu tion ho is in to-day. Seeing that Captain ' Black is a licensed coastal pilot, I do '' not think his appointment is a good '• choice by tho Marino Department, when " thero are other men available. lam of . tho opinion that thero is" not sufficient ' caro exercised by the Marino Dopart- ;■ nient in selecting nautical assessors. I '' had recently to officially object to tho G appointment of olio of the assessors apa pointed by tho Marino Department in a 0 recent magisterial inquiry. Fortunately, '• in this case, tho names of tho assessors appointed wero published a couple of 0 days before the case came on for hcars ing, which enabled me to tako this matter up with tho Secretary of tho Marino ■' Department, who, I must state, met tho '• case very readily when tho position was J explained to him. Every endeavour ll should bo made to find tho best men >- availablo to sit as assessors, and if they V aro not to bo found when required tem- ® porarily, the Government should con--11 sider tho question of appointing permanent assessors, such appointments to bo conferred only oil first-class master i mariners.—l am, etc., HUBERT L. NATHAN.