COERCING THE MARINE ENGINEERS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 121, 16 February 1920, Page 8

COERCING THE MARINE ENGINEERS

Sir,—lt appears from the news this) morning that tho Australian engineers: are to bo coerced into accepting the' Shipping Controller's offer even to tho extent of restricting their private rights. Yet why should one side be forced any more than tho other? If the demands of tho engineers were unreasonable, by all means, but on what basis can they be doomed to bo unreasonable? Tracing the history of the marine engineering profession from the time -when sea-going engineers were merely craftsmen, up to the present day, one finds that conditions of training and qualification are vastly more difficult- than ever before and that the calls upon a marine' engineer's knowledge and experience are infinitely wider than in the days of merely the one or two boilers, main engine and a couple or so of donkey pumps. With tho change in conditions has come a. superior class of men, until to-day marine engineers as a body rank liicrh in the engineering profession. How do the salaries demanded by the senior engineers compare with those of engineers, in shoTe_billets, with like experience, qualifications and responsibility? On the answer to that question depends the reply as to -whether or not such' demands are unreasonable. There is another fact that should hare an important bearing on the matter— the engineer ashore can call upon outside assistance in tho event of a breakdown; while his sea-going brother cannot, and, in many instances, must either effect a repair or the ship be lost with all hands (perhaps including passengers). Tho shipowner himself has been mainly responsible for bringing about the present state of affairs—ths_ Governments both here and in the United Kingdom certify that an engineer, on obtaining his first-class certificate, i 5 qualified to act as chief engineer of any sized steamer afloat and that such steamer need only carry one man so qualified. Notwithstanding this regulation, the shipowner, rightly, requires his senior engineers to have had very much more oxporienvo than will enable them to take their first-class certificates, and in most cases arranges for the engine room staff of his ship to include more than one certificated first-class engineer. This often means that an engineer does not becoino chief until he has had twenty or more years' experience. It liiav be safely affirmed that .£732 per annum is a small enough salary for a man of tipwafds of forty years of age, with twenty or more years' marine experience; a man upon whom rests the anxious' responsibility of those aboard tho vessel; a roan who 'has had to expend a lot of time and money in training"; a man who takes a higher risk than his confrere ashore, not only when on duty, but also off duty; a man who pays more insurance on life and property, and •who does not enjoy tlie - comfort of the home he has to maintain. tJntil recent yea's tho "Black Squad was practically unknown to the general public, but events commencing with the Titanio. disaster have opened their eyes to a body of men that heretofore had been more or less obscured. It is not for the Shipping Controller, though ho. be an Admiral Clarkson, but for tlio Australian public, -whose servant he is, to say whether the marine engineer officers, to -whom they entrust their lives when travelling by sea, in no less a degreo than to the navigating officers shall receive what they, the engineers, feel to be their due. It is not only the actual monetary value for which they aro fighting, but also for the position which naturally goes with it. I would express the hope tlu\t the reported refusal by a Tiank to allow a -withdrawal by an engineer of a portion of his private account is incorrect; and I feel sure tho public will condemn such an action as a stab in tho back and decidedly not British. The'engineers are making a clean fight, and I am glad to note that they and

not the Shipping Controller nor the shipowners have the public sympathy in the present dispute.—l am, etc., C. GIBSON YOUNG, Certificated extra first-class engineer (Brit. B. of T.). 93 Freyberg Street, Lyall Bay. [A later cablegram than that quoted liy our correspondent made it clear that the proclamation referred to did not interfere with the private accounts of individual engineers, but merely with tho funds of their organisation.]