6
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Members of Licensing Courts appointed.

Department of Justice,
Wellington, 3rd January, 1876.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to
appoint

MACKAY JOHN SCOBIE MACKENZIE, Esq.,
to be a Member of the Licensing Courts for the
Districts of Naseby, Hyde, Ahuriri, and Hindon, vice
W. Grumitt, Esq., resigned;

EDWARD WINGFIELD HUMPHREYS, Esq., J.P.,
to be a Member of the Licensing Court for the Dis-
trict of Macraes, vice M. J. S. Mackenzie, Esq., re-
signed; and

GEORGE E. ALLEN, Esq.,
to be a Member of the Licensing Court for the Dis-
trict of St. Bathans, vice W. Grumitt, Esq., resigned.

CHARLES C. BOWEN.

Penalties imposable by Law for Broaching Cargo at
Sea.

Office of the Commissioner of Customs,
Wellington, 30th December, 1875.

THE following Correspondence relative to the
penalties imposable by law for the broaching of
cargo at sea, is published for general information.

E. RICHARDSON,
(in the absence of the Commissioner of Customs).

Downing Street, 14th September, 1875.

SIR,-With reference to your letter of the 17th
of June, I am directed by the Earl of Carnarvon to
transmit to you, for your information, a copy of a
letter from the Board of Trade respecting the penal-
ties imposable by law for the broaching of cargo at
sea, and stating the course which their Lordships are
prepared at once to adopt in reference to this matter.

I am, &c.,
W. R. MALCOLM.

Board of Trade, Whitehall Gardens,
8th September, 1875.
Emigration.

SIR,-I am directed by the Board of Trade to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 19th of
June last, transmitting the copy of a further letter
from Sir Julius Vogel on the subject of the penalties
for pilfering or broaching cargo at sea.

In reply, I am to state, for the information of the
Earl of Carnarvon, that the Board are advised that
the offence of broaching cargo at sea, either by crew
or passengers, is certainly punishable as ordinary
theft under the general Criminal Law. The Statute
which deals with it is "The Larceny Act, 1851,"
which prescribes the punishment of three years' penal
servitude or two years' imprisonment with hard
labour. A severe penalty for the offence is therefore
already available; and as the language of the enact-
ment expressly refers the infliction of penalties to the
discretion of the Court, the necessary elasticity of the
law for discriminating between light and more serious
acts of pilfering or broaching cargo appears to be
accordingly insured.

Sir Julius Vogel's suggestion for special legisla-
tion would therefore seem to be reduced to the ques-
tion whether a specific penal enactment, directed
expressly against the offence in question, might not
tend more distinctly to mark it out as one of which
the law takes serious cognizance, and which it is
determined to repress.

In the meantime it may be desirable to embody

in a cautionary placard, to be posted up in every
emigrant ship, those portions of the Acts which
punish persons found guilty of plundering cargo,
including the Statute above referred to. This they
will at once do.

I have, &c.,
THOMAS GRAY.

The Under Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.

7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street,
Westminster, S. W., 20th Sept., 1875.

MY LORD,-I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of a letter from Mr. Malcolm, forwarding,
by direction of your Lordship, copy of one from the
Board of Trade on the subject of broaching or pilfer-
ing cargo at sea, respecting which I had the honor
to address your Lordship in letters dated 3rd May
and 17th June, 1875.

2. In the communication from the Board of
   Trade, Mr. Gray states that "the Board are advised
   that the offence of broaching cargo at sea, either by
   crew or passengers, is certainly punishable as ordinary
   theft under the general Criminal Law," and that,
   while considering whether it is desirable there should
   be special legislation against the offence, in order " to
   mark it out as one of which the law takes serious
   cognizance, and which it is determined to repress,"
   the Board will cause notices to be posted in every
   emigrant ship, stating the severe penalties to which
   those who commit the offence render themselves
   liable.

3. I have to express my acknowledgments to your
   Lordship for the aid which you have given to me in
   this matter, and to the Board of Trade for the atten-
   tion given to my representations. I am convinced
   that the repression of the offence of broaching or
   pilfering cargo will be the means of saving from
   destruction by fire at sea many lives and much pro-
   perty.

I have the honor to be, my Lord, your Lordship's
obedient servant,

JULIUS VOGEL.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon.

Master's Certificate suspended.

Customs Department (Marine Branch),
Wellington, 31st December, 1875.

IT is hereby notified, that His Excellency the
Governor has been pleased to confirm the
sentence of the Court of Inquiry, held at Dunedin,
into the cause of the stranding of the steamer
"Tairoa," which suspended the Board of Trade
Certificate of Competency as Master (No. 88967)
held by

JOHN SPIEGELTHAL,
for a period of thirty days.
This suspension will take effect from the 18th
instant.

EDWARD RICHARDSON,
(in the absence of the Commissioner of Customs).

Designation of Post Office changed.

General Post Office,
Wellington, 3rd January, 1876.

IT is hereby notified, for general information, that
the designation of the Post Office at Great Bar-
rier, in the Province of Auckland, has been changed
to

TRYPHENA.

EDWARD RICHARDSON,
(for the Postmaster-General).