CERTIFICATED MARINERS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 2974, 6 January 1881, Page 4

CERTIFICATED MARINERS.

At a meeting of the Jurisprudence Seclion of the Social Science Congress, held in Melbourne on 11th ult., a paper was read by Mr A. E. Nevins, F.R.A.S., on this subject, of which we give the following summary, taken from the Argus : — : 'lie said that society had a tendency to protect its interests by legislating against the interest;? of various classes to whose care interests are confided. This tendency has bs en developed in a very marked manner in the treatment measured out to certificated mariners by the Courts of inquiry, 'The functions of all other Courts of inquiry, such as coroners' inquests, inquests in cases of fire, were all*lirnited solely to investigation, and they had no penal powers; but Courts of inquiry into shipping disasters had th' 3 altogether anomalous power of dieting out very severe ]3unishment by ' dealing ' with mariners' certificates. The

members of a variety of professions were req"ired by law to obtain certificates of oompetency by examination, but when they had once obtained such certificates they could never again be declared incompetent. Certificated mariners, on the contrary, were continually being declared incompetent when they met with accidents, though in many cases the worst that could be said of them was that they had been guilty of errors in judgment. In justice to certificated mariners, they ought to be placed on the game footing as other certificated professional men. This would only be done by limiting the functions of Courts of inquiry to simple investigation of facts, with power of furnishing to Government a report of tho result of investigations. It would then be with the Government law officers to prosecute where a charge of wilful negligence could be sustained. At present there was absolutely no appeal from the decision of a Court of inquiry, no matter how harsh its judgment may be; nor, indeed, in cases —!iei") further evidence was subsequently •VWheoimug, which was not. available at the dite of the first investigation. A Court of A opeal was recently granted at Home by an A ' rf th? Imperial .Parliament, and such an Acr, L-dv Nevins thought, ought to be at c!i'.-e ;.:.;i3j'..\'i here, in case the before mentioned alterations in the existing laws were considered too sweeping. The interests of in: l general public would be quite as ef'irieatly guarded as the;/ are at present (if r.nfc better), in the event of either of the r"').-..^;;. 1 . jiUaratious being adopted, and, at *'ii !<arie time, many valuable and ex-p--"ri«/K'ed public servants would be saved iVo.ii ;.he ruiuoiß punishment to which they Ltre in.iw ; xposccl. '" .''he piv.ri-.lcnt (Dr. lTearn) agreed that t!ic .iiisp«u.---iori of a master's certificate deprived hini of his means of subsistence, and t!i ; -; ;><.«.;;;■ was too great to be entrusted to '. j.;i-,i th.it were very little better than 'V..;;r(.>- ..,- Petty Sessions. The suspension if ;. ...jt).' should only bo in the power •■f i ; .".--iNii-.eo? v superior- Court, such as tii'j '...■!..• urt of ■■'••dmiraltv."