10th Sept. Nova Courts of Enquiry are generally most unsatisfactory tribunals, as indeed is the case with nearly all amateur tribunals. "A Marine Court," says the Japan Mail, commenting on the case of the master of the Takachiho Maru, "is unfortunately bound to err on the side of severity," to which it might very well be replied that it is not bound to err at all. Naval Courts in China have generally erred on the side of lenity, and it used to be well understood. that however & master lost his ship, if he asked fur a Naval Court at a China port, he was sure to come off with flying colours. The article in the Japan Mail to which we have just referred is a very undecided one, the editor evidently eympathising with Captain Walker, but feeling obliged to rely on the impartiality and technical knowledge of the Court; but that the Court erred grievously on the side of severity in suspending Captain Walker's certificate for six mouths, cannot, we think, be disputed by any one who has read the evidence carefully and without prejudice. This contention is ably supported in the letter of "Shipmaster," published in the Japan Mail of the 1st instant, to which we referred yesterday.
The judgment of the Court, signed by the Japanese president and two Japanese assessors—and containing, by, the by, no statement as to where the Takachiho Maru was lost, or that she was lost at all—says: "The Court is of
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.