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sular officers and cannot recognise any forms which are con-
trary to the Law of the Colony. Whether the Treaty passed
six months later than the Ordinance, should render any amend
ment of the Ordinance desirable may be open to question.
For my own part, it seems to me, the proceed-
ings in the case against Brener, an alleged deserter,point
to the desirability of making the Magistrate, rather than
the Consul, the judge of whether a man is a deserter or not.
The man Brenner appears to have borne a good
character, for no complaint was made against him nor was he
logged during the long voyage. While,however, the Ship "The
R. R. Thomas* from New York, was lying in the harbour of Vic-
toria he was brutally assaulted by the mate Patton, Not unna-
turally,he, in view of such treatment, wished to be discharged and, by permission, came ashore with some others of the crew
to be discharged by "mutual consent" at the U. S. Consulate.
Having told Revd. Mr. Iliff of the Seamen's Mission the treat -
ment he had received he was advised by that gentleman to
charge the mate with assault. That was why he was not dis-
charged with the others, as he had to attend the Police
Court. The mate was sentenced to six weeks hard labour and
on appeal to the Supreme Court the sentence was confirmed.
This shows the severe character of the as-
sault and,pending the appeal, it is not surprising the man
Brettner was not willing to go on board, seeing the Captain
in his evidence showed his bias in the mate's favour though
he
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