THE New Zealand Herald AMD DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1918. THE MERCANTILE MARINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16798, 14 March 1918, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AMD DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1918. THE MERCANTILE MARINE.

The combatant forces of the British Empire, actually engaged in the prosecution of the war, now comprise between five and six million men. Apart from the manifold divisions into : which this vast number is organised, they fall easily into two great classifications,' the Navy and the Army ; linked together by mutual trust and respect, and a common devotion to a great and noble purpose; Behind the sailors who guard the ocean highways .and the soldiers who man the battlefro'nts stand the great civilian populations of the Empire.. But between tho combatants and the civilians there is another, great body which is civilian by tradition but combatant in practice—the • officers and men of the British mercantile marine. There is no loyal citizen of tho Empire who, day by day, does not more or less consciously pay heartfelt tribute to those great Services who stand between him and German ambition. Is such homage-given to the mercantile marine, or is it less deserved? It is a proud distinction for any body of civilians to be placed in the same category as the soldiers of the British Army and the sailors of the British Navy. Yet that generous honour has been rendered to the officers and men of the British mercantile marine by Mr. Lloyd George, [with the. warm endorsement of the Imperial Parliament. That .such a measure of appreciation is not .extravagant must be realised by all who consider the duties and the services of the seafarers in the war.

When British delegates at The Hague rejected the proposal that merchant ships should be immune from warlike operations, they foiled the German scheme to neutralise British command of the sea. They were confident in the capacity of the British Navy to sweep enemy shipping from the seas and to protect the carriers of the Empire's supplies. Thus it was established that the merchantmen should be liable to capture in war, but Germany with .the other nations, pledged herself to protect the lives of crews and passengers. That pledge has been utterly repudiated, so that to-day Germany refuses to release 2000 British seamen from Ruhleben because they are '' combatants." By the methods of the submarine campaign, every ocean has become part of the war zone and every merchant ship faced with perils whose infamy will never be forgotten while men go out upon the seas. In time of peace, the seaman's calling was full of danger and discomfort; in war, he must risk the lurking submarine, the hidden bomb, the drifting mine. In many waters, beacons by which he felt his way to port are darkened ; on every voyage, his own ship must not show a light, in storm and fog and darkness he must press his ship on, for time is precious and a hungry nation waits upon his expedition. Round about a world beset with dangers, the, merchant ships fulfil their duty, passing from the English Channel with its submarines to distant Cook Strait with its mines, going out into the Pacific to meet or miss a raider, carrying soldiers to every front, bringing home the wounded, bearing supplies of every kind for the fighting forces and food for those who labour in field and factory.

Eight thousand British seamen have lost their lives in this service. Thousands more have been cast upon

the waters to struggle ashore, starving and exhausted. Never yet has a British sailor refused to go to sea because he feared to face such dangers. Never yet has a British ship stayed in port because no crew would take her out to face tlw German submarines. Such men as Sanders, V.C., have passed from the mercantile marine to combatant service and deeds of undying fame ; their spirit of unquestioning devotion and high courage is to be found on every merchant ship, in the forecastle as in the cabin, in the stokehold as in the engine-room. The service of these men is unpretentious and little recognised. The loss of the Wairima has shown that it is impossible to distinguish between transport and cargo-carrier. Both arc liable to destruction by enemy action, both arc manned by sailors whose families may at any time be cast upon charity by the practice of stopping the seaman's 'wages when his ship goes down. After long delay, a system has been devised to provide pensions for those whoso ; breadwinners are lost at sea. It is equally important that' Gqvernment and shipowners should recognise their responsibility to the dependants of those who survive. . There will always be an interval between the loss of the ship and the granting of pensions or the return'of the crew to sea or its release from internment. The mercantile marine is entitled to know that during that period the women and children shall not be in want. Whither that duty shall fall wholly upon the shipowner o" the Government, or be shared by both, does not concern the public. It has been recognised in the case of tho soldier; equally liberal provision must be made in the case of the merchant seaman.