Mr. Graves brought forward his motion for a Commission to.
inquire into the manning of the Navy on Tuesday, in a speecl. full of knowledge and point. We have discussed it elsewhere,. but may mention here that on the great points there was sub- stantial agreement on all hands. Those points are that the scheme of manufacturing skilled seamen by sending boys into train- ing-ships, and then obtaining ten years' continuous service from them, has succeeded ; that we have an ample supply of them for peace-times ; that we have an ample reserve of raw material for war-times ; but that this material wants to be worked up. There are 70,000 seamen in the mercantile marine and 153,000 fishermen, and if only 10 per cent. of them all could be trained up to man-of-war point, and induced to serve when needful, the Admiralty would have an ample Reserve. Otherwise,
we must somehow or other retain a hold on the blue-jackets dis- charged at 28. Mr. Goschen in a speech which pleased the House —it was so frank—said he was studying the alternatives, and thought that with more experience he could produce a plan more cagily than any cumbrous Royal Commission.
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