Note 81 — Chapter XIV

One of the first, if not the very first, against whom proceedings were taken under this provision of the statute was Robert Wetherall, master of the ship Albinia, from Gravesend to the Cape of Good Hope. Wetherall had at the last moment refused to take the mails on board, consisting of 173 letters. On the advice of the law officers the Post Office contemplated proceeding against him by indictment; but the Government decided to proceed by information, with a view apparently to give to the case greater importance and notoriety.