THE MERCANTILE MARINE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 169, 17 July 1919, Page 5

THE MERCANTILE MARINE.

Leslie W. Foster (master mariner) writes: In your issue of Saturday I read that the men of the mercantile marine are placed last in the order of procession. Last but not least aptly describes this inconspicuous position. Are there no citizens in this city who realise that for .the past four years these men have risked their lives in the Empire's cause just as much as the soldier? What irony to see the members of city councils, trade unions, and friendly societies taking precedence over the men who flaunted the gangers of mines and torpedoes whilst these same members in many cases were fattening on the food brought through the submarine areas by the merchant seamen. Shame on you, Auckland, when 1 you allow the very men who made the progress of your seaport possible to be tailed at the N end of a representative procession. Only those like myself who suffered the horrors of submarine attack know what a debt the world owes to these gallant men, and I am astounded at the slur cast upon them by suggesting their being placed last in a procession where they have earned premier place. These men, who -"carried on" so nobly against terrible hidden dangers, and in spite of all obstacles, are entitled to a position second to none, and if the order of precedence is, not reversed then the fair name of Auckland will ever pollute the nostrils of those men "who go down: to the ,sea in ships." In the name of; conscience see to it that the Red Ensign I floats ahead of the procession.