The trial of Commander Maxwell Heron for misuse of the
'Queen's stores, fraudulent charges, and oppression, ended on 'Thursday, we regret to say, in a verdict of guilty on eleven counts and part of another, and acquittal on two. That is to say, this officer is found guilty of oppressing the ship's corporal, by disrating him for just representations intended • to protect ship stores ; of using stores for his own be- hoof ; of paying 40s. a ton for firewood the market price of -which was 25s. ; of signing a report condemning stores 'which, when repaired, "were taken to his private residence," and of permitting public dances on his ship on payment of 611. for each ticket. The sentence was dismissal from the service, which, considering how warrant officers or sailors are punished for making away with stores, seems unjustifiably light. A court-martial, however, always takes previous char- acter into account in a way a civil court does not do, and may have been cognisant of extenuating circumstances not apparent to a reader of the evidence. The expenditure of ships' stores on private account is an old abuse, as Captain Marryat testi- fies; but it is aggravated in this case by false entries and fictitious reports, and should have been condemned in a much stronger way. We trust that no fear of scandal will deter the Admiralty from repeating the prosecution whenever it is needful, and that they will at once consider the question of the adequacy of officers' allowances. Poverty is no excuse for theft, but the strain on Naval officers is far too severe.
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