We are glad to see that the majority of the
Committee appointed to inquire into the manning of merchant ships has adopted a proposal often urged in these columns,—namely, that the State should undertake the work of teaching their duties to our seafaring population, and in exchange should have a call upon their services as a Naval Reserve. We most earnestly hope that this suggestion will be adopted. It is really one for technical education in the most important of British industries. Training-ships should be established in all our chief ports, and boys should be given gratuitously thorough instruction in the duties of seamen, stokers, and artificers. In exchange the boys' names should be placed on the register of the Naval Reserve, and they should be liable to be called on in case of need to help man our battle-ships during a fixed period of, say, ten years. There should, of course, be arrangements for re-engagement and for suitable pay. If a couple of hundred boys were trained each year in each of our larger ports, we should, in ten years time, have a reserve register equal to the French Inscription Maritime. We trust Mr. Goschen will not miss this great opportunity.
Previous page
