SHORTAGE OF SEAMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 255, 25 October 1907, Page 5

SHORTAGE OF SEAMEN.

There is a shortage of seamen in Auckland at the present time, and it is stated that this is also the. case in other pajts of the Dominion, and in Australia. The barquentine Selwyn Craig, which was towed to the Thames on Wednesday last to load timber for Australia, was unable to complete her crew list at Auckland, and a number of temporary hands had to be taken as far as Turua, where the requisite number of seameu will probably be obtained by the time the vessel is ready for sea. The barque Onyx has been delayed at Auckland for a week for lack of her complement of officers and crew. A chief officer is coming up from Dunedin to join the vessel, which i 3 also drawing on Sydney for a second officer. Her crew list is not by any means complete, and it will probably be some time before she will be able to take her departure. The auxiliarj schooner Countess of Ranfurly, and the. barque Casablanca, are in much the same fix, and the latter vessel, which will probably bo towed to Mercury to-morrow to load timber for Sydney, will not be allowed to leave port until a ;complete crew has been obtained, as although she is being towed, she has to go out to sea on the passage to Mercury Bay.