26 OCTOBER 1912, Page 3

The annual conference on sea training was held at the

County Hall, Spring Gardens, on Monday, Mr. Geoffrey Drage presiding. Lord Devonport, who pointed out what had been done by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1906 to ameliorate the condition of sailors in the mercantile marine, read an important letter from Mr. Lloyd George. In it he declared that, though as Chancellor of the Exchequer lie was bound to look at things from a different standpoint from that he had adopted when he was at the Board of Trade, his sympathies remained unchanged, and he was "at present considering, in consultation with the Board of Trade and the Board of Education, the question of providing additional monetary assistance to promote this most important branch of technical instruction."