CASE OF DUMMYISM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17693, 2 August 1919, Page 7

CASE OF DUMMYISM

M iNNING' OF A VESSEL MASTER PROSECUTED. (Pee United Press Association.) AUCKLAND, August 1. An allegation of dummyism in manning a vessel was involved in charges heard in the Police Court against a seaman named lid ward Donovan, who was charged with having, on April 1, fraudulently engaged himself to servo on the Akaroa for the purpose of enabling the ship t-o clear, and jiot lor. the purposes of the whole voyage, and that, being' the master of the Akaroa,' he carried Peter Petersen and H. Booth on board without having entered into an agreement.

Mr Selwyn Mays, for the Marine Department, stated that the Akaroa was owned by tho Parker-Lamb Timber Company, and was used for towing rafts of kauri Jogs from tho East Coast beaches and ports to the> company's mill at Auckland. Petersen, a man with special qualifications as a raftsman and a. master mariner, had. for a long time been in charge of the steamer, but on account of his German parentage and birth the Merchant Service Guild had objected to his being kept in charge of the steamer Eventually, after much notation, the Minister of Marine had insisted on Petersen being removed from the command. That, counsel stated, was obviously the reason for the present breaches of the Shipping and Seamen Act. On April 1 Donovan was signed on as master of the ship, being a man who had a master's certificate, acquired by long service and efficiency in tho river-limit trade, though he was an illiterate man. Other members of the crew were nUf* signed on, but Booth and Petersen, vit,' were also \on board, did not *>nter into an agreement. That same day, when tho Akaroa went to coal from the Glenelg the ship was navigated by Petersen, and the nominal master (Donovan) was doing the work of an ordinary seaman. Tho samo thing was noticed again when the Akaroa coaled at tho Onerahi wharf. Inquiries were made, and it was found that on April 19 Petersen had tried to sign himself on as an ordinary seaman, and when the question of his membership with the union wa9 raised he was signed on as a "boy." After further inquiries were made, Donovan made a writtten admission that he had been asked if ho would ship as "sailing master" with Petersen at £20 a month. "Sailing master," counsel stated, was a polite term for "dummy master." Donovan admitted that Petersen was in reality in charge of the ship, though he signed as a "boy." Mr Moody, for Donovan, stated that he had been approached and tempted with the wages. He was an illiterate man, and had been used as a tool by others. Tho defendant was fined £5, with 23s oSf ts ' -*? r onte ring himself as master, and 20s, with 28s costs, on each of the other two charges.

out of tho same circumstances, charges of broaches of the Shipping Act aro being heard against Peterson.