HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 18, 22 January 1916, Page 12

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

The fact that a master of a well-known sailing vessel had signed' a second mate on at £11 per month for the passage to' the^ West Coast a few days ago (remarks a Sydney exchange) has caused some of the retired shipmasters to grow reminiscent, hence so many.stories of "the good old days when I was at sea" are being heard by frequenters of the Exchange. Recently one well-known shipmaster recalled his days, as officer, and stated that he had never rerceived moro than £4 103 per month as second officer,, whilst £7 10s to £8 was excellent pay for a chief mate. "Why," he continued, "one voyage I made as master all the. pay I received was £10 per month, and no tobacco." And not one, but several well-known shipowners in the days gone by, never paid the masters more than £10 per month, and here to-day- we have a second officer getting £11. It was not so much a. oonbention that officers are too liberally treated now that prompted the remarks, as it was a sense, of regret that he-was not abio to enjoy the good times hims»!f, for, after all he had had to say, he concluded with the words, "Well, after all, they deserve it."