OUR MERCANTILE MARINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13370, 27 December 1906, Page 6

OUR MERCANTILE MARINE.

SPEECH BY THE HON. J. A.

MILLAR

THE NEEDS OF THE SERVICE.

A COLONIAL NAVAL RESERVE 'ADVOCATED.

A visit was paid to the Auckland Sailors' Home last evening by the Hon. J. A. Millar, Minister for Marine, and in honour of the occasion a pleasant little entertainment was arranged by the council of the Home. The Minister was met on arrival at the Home, by the president (Mr. H. Peake). Messrs. T. Ha lie Giles, T. Gresham, P. J. Nerheny, and J. Magee (members of the council), and Captain Grant, manager of the Home. .After being shown round the Home the Minister and members of the Council took their place at the head of the table in the diningroom, where "ight refreshments were provided. A large number of residents of the Home and- other seamen were present.

After the toast " The King" had been honoured, the President proposed the toast of "The Minister.'' He said that the name of Mr. Millar was familiar as a /household word in every seaman's home in the colony, as that of one who had done much to further the interests of those engaged in following the sea He spoke of the need for improving the conditions of service in the mercantile marine, so as to make it attractive to the young men of the British,race, and thus assist to remove the reproach in connection with the present large proportion of foreigners' in the service. He also expressed a, hope that in view of the colonial character of the work of the Sailors' Home some Government assistance might be forth-' •coming in effecting certain necessary improvements. THE MINISTER'S ADDRESS. Mr. Millar, in responding, said that as one who had followed the sea for many years, he was very pleased to meet the .seamen present. He had held almost every position from apprentice to masternot forgetting cook— and at the present time he occupied rather a unique position, he being the first seaman in the British Dominions to attain Cabinet rank. (Appla.use.) He owed this position largely to the support that he had received from the seamen. Referring to the hardships and disabilities under which British seamen laboured, he said it was often asked why the British mercantile marine was manned to such a large extent by foreigners. Was there need, he asked, for any person of common sense to ask such a question? A boy, after entering the service as a brass boy at 15s a month, and working himself up to the position of ordinary seaman, and then to that of able seaman, was paid the munificent wage of about £50 a year and found, the cost of which was approximately 9d a day. Why were so many foreigners entering the British mercantile marine'.' Simply because a British seaman, with the wages he received, could not live fairly in his own country, and keep a wife and family. The presence of so many foreigners in the service was due to the fact that they got higher wages on British ships than they received on their own ships, and to the fact that the purchasing power of the money was greater in their countries. There was a great cry about the large number of foreigners in the British service, but who was responsible? Even*in this colony they found owners chartering foreign ships, manned by foreigners, to compete against our own vessels. He believed that in' future New Zealand must become a maritime nation, but in order to do that she, must offer more inducements to young New••■ Zealanders to go to sea. . To do that they must make the accommodation provided for seamen better than it was at present. Instead of giving them a shelf six by six by two to lie on, they should give them accommodation as good as they got in the Sailors' Home. (Applause.) This could be done at little expense if the ship was properly designed when being built. In this colony they had some of the best- ships that could be found in any part of the world, but even on these coasts there was hardly a vessel that was provided with a bathroom for its sailois and firemen. The cost of a bathroom would be practically nothing, if it was provided for when the vessel was built, and firemen especially would be greatly benefited, as he was certain that they would not suffer from half the diseases that they were now subject to if they were able to have a hot bath, instead of coming out of the hot stokehold into the cold air. (Hear, hear.) Referring to the Home, he congratulated them on the good work that was being done, and said that if the practical interest in the welfare of seamen, manifested by its governing body was more general there would be less reason to talk about the thriftlessness of seamen, and there would be less temptation to them to spend their time and money in less desirable ways. In Dunedin they had a Sailors' Rest, but that did not provide the comforts of a home such as was offered at the Auckland Home. He spoke of the value of a well-equipped home as an assistance to seamen to advance in their calling, and said that whilst he could not pledge the Government to anything, he would, in the event of an application being made' for assistance in. thoroughly equipping the home, impress its claims upon his colleagues. (Applause.) They had as fine a class of seamen in the colonies as they had in any part of the Empire, and he saw no reason why we should not train a large naval reserve in. Australia and New Zealand, that could be called upon in case of necessity. There were plenty of men who would' bo willing to put in their 28 days' drill a year, as was done in the Old Country, and if it were done they would find that they would getas large a reserve in New Zealand, in proportion to the population, as in any other part of the Empire. They could not' go into any part of the colony, oven in the farming districts, without finding one in about six who had formerly been a seaman. The children of these men all had a tinge of the saltwater in their blood, and the men on both our steamers and sailing vessels would be only too glad to join a reserve and thus form a part of that navy which in the future must- lie relied upon, to uphold the Empire and maintain Britain's proud posiLion of mistress of the seas. (Applause.) He impressed upon seamen that whilst they had a right to expect considerate treatment from shipowners the feeling should he mutual, and that, they in turn .should do their best in the interests of their employers. Alluding to the approaching maritime conference in the Old Country, and the desire to obtain a uniform shipping law for the whole of the British Empire, he said that whilst the New Zealand Shipping and Seamen Act cf 1903 was a good measure, it was not perfect. A large portion of the' English Act, which had «a.ssed the House of Lords the other day, was taken from the New Zealand Act, but the Old Country needed to do more yet to reach our level*. He trusted that the' conference would lead to an improvement of the condition of the seamen of the Empire, and that the result would be that there would no longer be any reason to ask why there were more foreigners than British meu iu our mercantile marine. The sooner they improved- the conditions of the service the sooner would the present reproach be removed. (Applause.) Mr. Gresham, in a eulogistic speech, proposed the health of the manager and' Captain Grant, and also alluded to the many kindnesses shown to the seamen by Mrs Grant. Captain Grant, in . replying, said that since he had been in charge of the Home he had made the institution pay its way without taking any portion of the revenue from endowments for maintenance purposes.

The other toasts were: " Our Seamen " proposed by Mr. Nerhenv. and acknowledged by Mr. G. Muers; "The Chairman and the Council," given by the Hon. Mr Millar, and "The Press," proposed by Mr' Harle Giles. The gathering terminated with cheers for Mr. Millar and" the members of the council. „