LESSONS OF THE DISASTER.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14347, 6 May 1912, Page 7

LESSONS OF THE DISASTER.

I.TFE SAFETY AT SEA.

yiEV.'f? OF MR HAVFXOCK WILfiOX.

T . . ... r , ~ I In an interview with p. '.Press re- I porter fii Lyttfltoii on Saturday morning, llr Havelocl; Wilson. General j secretary of the Natfmi.il Seamen's and i Firemen's Union of Great ilritain. said ! that undoubtedly the Titanic disaster J was likely to bring about great changes ] ;in the steamship passenger carrying j trade. I "So far as the equipment of British vessels with Hie-s.iring apparatus is I concerned," said ilr Wilson, ''I have ' lor many years, in Parliament, and as | I a representative on tho Jkiard of j i Trade Committee, that we. have J ! been taking 100 tunny risks in regard ito ocoan travel. On board very many j ships trading from Groat Britain mere • has not been a great deal of care exori cised in regard to lifeboats. Boats ■ havo not been sufficient in number, and ;in many cases thoy havo not beeu rej moved from their chocks from one year's J end to another. Ahovo all tilings, the gravest danger lies in the totally inode- { quate number of qualified able seamen carried on steamers to man tho boats in cases of emergency. Tho fault of all this, in my opinion, rests entirely I with the Board of Trado. Whenever I have moved in the direction of having proper provision made for tho manning of ships, L have invariably met with tho most strenuous opfiosition from the officials of the Hoard of Trade. Even in ease* wlie.ro I have got shipowners to agree with mc regarding tho manning of ships, the Board of Trade officials hav<s prevented anything being done because, thoy say. tho law does rot give- thrrn power to impose the conditions which the shipowners and mjraolf have agreed to adopt. And while they always tool: up that lino of argument, they were never rendy to anpoal to Parliament to give them greater powers to an pdeciuate manning scale on ships. I ontirolv disagree with them when thoy say thoy have not got tho power. The law give* them full and j nmplo Tiowor in this direction, nml the pime Board of Trndo oftV'ils admitted this beforo the Imperial Shipping Conference nold in Fjoudon tilwmf five v.irs nqo. when rrnre<!r>ntntires of Xew Zeal.'Mul «nd Arrtr-Oi.n ir-nno.?od a iin'fo'-ni j "iMiutitiir scnlo for throur' , t' , - ,, n-M-i'sh Empire. The'Bonrd of Trndo yvoro ver'- in Rtflf.incr f + hat + '-<ere wa« nbsol'itelv no r^ce<"-it T j for this, as they had tji<vo j now-s. A record of tl"'s is +o be ferind m the of. *V«» 'ovidonf" girc" lv-fr\ro the Shlr»n»irf rv>"fAT>nr<e." UNIVEPSAT, nKCnr.ATIONS • NECESSARY. is absolrtelv neoessarv." said Mr Wilson, "that whn+eve , ' may be adopted, they shou'd be enforced on the vessels of all nations entering or leaving British norts. As a nntter ef fact, our laws already nrovVli +b?t ilns fihnll b« done, bn*- tbo 'icllv-fisV of the Board of Tr.-x- , " have alwnvs been rehietrmt, to n.i?rtlt" the rowers thov now r>os-.< l '.«;<! in feTarcl to foreign ships in British ports." ! INTER XATI Ov ,\ r, POXFER EXCE NEEDED. "Tlir Titanic disaster v.iU certainly tend to bring about an international j conference of maritime nations to con- i sider this very important ouestion of j the. snfety of life at sea. Should such ' a conference bo held, a,vr\ it ought to j be held al onw. New Zenland should ) insist upon having direct and indepen- i dent reprct-entaHon. apart altogether i from the Tmperinl Government, or other- j wi«« the interests of New Zealnnd will j suffer considerably. The sliinpirg i legislation of tlie T)omin ; on i.« plrmdv far in advance of that of Great Bh+.-mi i or any other country, .irjf] t]io j>eoplc of New Zealsind should insist on shipping legislation bci-g up to their pfaticlard. No deponrlenr-o can h-> pl::r"il on R-!t,"ch ropreeentn+ives- cloin«r +his. otherwise tlr-v wi'lfl not hr>ve I><-W up Now Zea'•"'d sinnnini-f legislation us they havo done year after year in the past."