OUR HISTORY – ALL AT SEA – FALSE DECLARATION

A young man appeared in Auckland Court in1923 charged with having made a false declaration to a Justice of the Peace. The defendant was really a clerk but falsified he was an able-bodied seaman who had lost his personal papers in Christchurch. He was given a job on the “Tofua” but the deception was uncovered soon after the ship left Auckland: he was incompetent when told to take a turn at the wheel. Back in Auckland, and in court, he was convicted of making a false declaration and placed on probation for a year.

Researched and compiled by Ric Carlyon