The Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1908. NATIVE-BRED SAILORS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9305, 4 August 1908, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1908. NATIVE-BRED SAILORS.

With all her maritime traditions, with a soaig lor© of the sea that no | other nation can equal, and with an insular position that makes her dependent for the most of her sustenance, the raw material for her industries and the transit oi: her exports upon the roliing ocean, it does cc©m extraordinary that Britain should ever be short of eons of the sea to man her Navy or the vessels of her mercantile But this, unfortunately, is the, fact. It is all very well to sing of " Sohs of the sea, all British-born." Th© Tsentiment is beautifully patriotic, but against that sentiment rises up the bald fact that, notwithstanding tho numerous port© of the British islands and their extensive- seaboard, on which men. engage in fisheries of various kinds, a very large proportion of the sailors who man the British merchant vessels) are foreigners. This is the case in both sailing vessel and steamer. [The sailing vessel is gradually disappearing, ac its place is taken by the tramp steamer, and, with the attenuation, of the list of sailing vessels, there is also proceeding a steady falling-oil in the number of qualified seamen. The shortage of British-born men for the crews is not confined to sailing vessels. Tho steamers, though they cannot altogether do without the men who learned their duty as boys before the mast, and require work of a special kind which the engines have called for, are m the same difficulty, and have to depend on foreigners in making up the complement of their crews. The subject has caused no little alarm at Home, and all sorts of expedients have been resorted to with the object of changing the aspect of affairs, but so far the falhngoff has not been, materially checked. On© of the means adopted to increase , the number of British-born seamen is , the institution of training-ships, not necessarily reformatories nor homes for j the destitute, though both exist and, arc doing good work, but ships specially { set aside for the training of lads to a seafaring life and giving them a nautical education. British shipowners in their extremity are lending eager and substantial aid to those training-ships, and find that it is money well spent. New Zealand has only one vessel ot the kind in her waters, tho Amokura, and it is pleasing to learn that her mission is being fulfilled with signal success. This aSurance come, to us from he Premier fcmseK. who, speaking at the annual meeting of the Navy.League-at Wellington last week, stated that the Imoku'-a, the first New Zealandl train, mo-ship, had been found to be too snTall and a request had been made to the Home authorities for a vessel r^ablo of acoommodatiiw a thousand young men. A* yet, the Government had not been, able to get the vessel it had asked for, and, failing the Home I authorities it would have to get one ££^mewhere else, but a large*^onc rf Have. The Amokura had been in commission for only a comparatively short time, but the beneficial results accruing from the training had already been felt. The boys were given a thorough grounding in seamanship, a d at -the end of their course, they could enlist in the Navy or join the mercantile fleet. Sir Joseph Ward assured the League that this floating school was not a seminary for refractory boys, but one with a special work of its own, and that work it had done so well' that the demand for places had outgrown tho capacity of the vessel. It is pleasing to know that the Premier is in a position to ©peak in this strain, as it indicates the spirit in which the people of New Zealand have taken up the movement, and the Government will have the sympathy and support of everyone in its endeavour to increase the number of the dominion's "eons of the sea." '