Why Foreign Seamen Man British Ships.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 12, 20 March 1912, Page 64

Why Foreign Seamen Man British Ships.

The British merchant seamen seems to be a man whom nobody troubles very much about. He is really badly treated, and some interesting f'avts about the thousands of ''undesirable aliens” who are taking b:s place are brought to light in an article with the above heading in ' Pearson's Magazine,” to which Admiral Hon. Sir Edmund Fremantle, G.C.8., <>.M.'l.. writes the foreword. ‘ British ships are no longer manned by Britons. The hordes of foreigners who infest the service—Europeans of every rue", Lascars—lndians and Asiatics— Chinamen, Malays, and others of lesser breeds—put up with conditions so rough and so hard, and in some cases so filthy, that not only will no decent, self-re-specting British seamen now accept them, but respectable boys from good homes, unless driven by desperation, will not go to sea. "At least 74,000 foreign seamen are employed on British merchant ships. ”1 he presence of these foreigners in v>ur mercantile marine is a standing menace to the nation in a case of war breaking out. No merchant ship could be trusted by commanders of hattlesltips to give or convey information. Cargoes would be imperilled, and our food supplies held up. **The foreigners are holding positions that should be occupied mainly by Britishers. In the overcrowded state of the home labour market this is nothing short of a national calamity.”