THE MARINE SCANDAL.

NZ Truth, Issue 135, 18 January 1908, Page 6

THE MARINE SCANDAL.

AN ECHO OF THE PAST. Captain ifllman Declared Insane. Captain Allman, late nautical advisor to the New Zealand Government, is quite dotty. He was placed under detention provisionally a ' fortnight ago, and the subsequent medical examination has gone against him. Dr. Crosby, who runs tbe Mount View home for the mentally afflicted, examined Allnjan, and re. ported that he was buffering from general paralysis and was a fit subject for confinement. Mrs Allman cannot manage her husband, whose cake is dough so far as the outer world is concerned. When the mind of a strong man becomes a colorless blank, one look.s for causes, and m this case the recollection ••' goes back to New Zealand's notorious marine scandal, when Allman as nautical examiner gave a. master's certificate to an allegedly incapable person. HallJones was Minister for Marine at the time, but the favored competitor was ''a friend of Dick Seddon's. The churlish Tory rags, incensed at the success of a democratic administration, seized upon this incident to frantically discredit the Cabinet, and kicked •up such a fiendish row that poor old Allman had to go. He was made the scapegoat: It was said that Seddon always intended to make it up to the ancient mariner, but the late Premier died WITHOUT FULFILLING THE MORAL OBLIGATION. After losing his regular employment, Allman drifted into an occasional job of running small boats like the Manaroa to the Sounds and elsewhere, and there can be no doubt that the brutal mud-slinging and sneaking- aspersions indulged m by the yelping pack of Conservative mongrels preyed upon his mind, and is the primary cause of his lapse into imbecility. The aspiring sailor who was the cause of all this trouble is James Jones, popular skipper of the harbor ferry steamer, Duchess, a humorous old cuss, who may be an excellent mariner, but whose education was-ne-glected m his youth. His knowledge of the three r's was scarcely sufficient to cope with the examination papers for the distinction of master mariner, but Allman sacrificed himself for Seddon's friend, although it is said that Hall-Jones could have saved Allman had he bestirred himself. The incident caused a great sensation and nearly wrecked a Ministry.