Perjury Charge.

The vessel by which news was brought to Wellington of the wreck of the Ocean Mail also had on board three members of the crew, under arrest on a charge of perjury at the magisterial inquiry held at the Chathams. It seems that the master of the Ocean Mail objected to dead reckoning by log being kept, and at the inquiry the second and third mates and an apprentice swore that the log had been heaved, a statement that was afterwards admitted to be false. The three men were charged with perjury, and were brought up before the Resident Magistrate and some justices of the peace. Evidently the Chatham Islands Bench "did itself proud" over the rare event of such a trial, for the newspaper account speaks of "voluminous depositions," and says "they filled 89 pages of foolscap."

An inquiry into the wreck was held at the Islands, and after sitting for a week the Court found that the mishap was due mainly to negligence on the part of the captain and officers in not keeping dead-reckoning by the log. Captain Watson's certificate was suspended for nine months, and those of the first and second mates for six months.