THE MERCHANT NAVY
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Stu,—Had there been one letter only published in The Spectator from Mr. Kenneth Bradshaw it would have been well to ignore his misstatements, but as The Spectator has again given him the hospitality of its columns to repeat and amplify his accusations, his statements must not remain unanswered.
To reply to his assertions in the order in which he makes them : (1) The seamen and officers serving in British vessels are the second highest paid in the world.
(2) With the 10 per cent. reduction they are still the second highest. (8) The Board of Trade will not allow any undermanning. (4) Ordinary seamen's wages are £4 is. rising to £5 3s. 6,1. per month and all found. A.B.'s wages are £8 2s. per month.
(5) The fixed rate of pay for a fourth officer is £9 9s.. which rate, in common with those for other grades, " may neither be increased. or reduced " ; but even the question of wages is a relative one, for the real point that matters is "What will they buy ? " In England the official tables issued by the Labour Ministry show that the relative cost of living in May last was 88 per cent. above that of July, 1914. The same table shows that the relative increase for the same items in Belgium was 595 per cent., Finland 883 per cent., France 416 per cent., Holland 87 per cent. and Italy 20 per cent.
(6) Allowances cannot be cut down. There is a minimum scale of provisions (copy of which I enclose), and these pro- visions are passed by the Board of Trade Inspectors of Ships' Provisions, whose standard is high, and no manual worker on shore fares nearly as well in the quantity and quality of food supplied. It costs Is. 6d. per man per day to victual an ordinary British tramp steamer. The cost in other European steamers is 10d. to 1s. 5d. per man per day.
(7) Something under 4 per cent, is the present percentage of foreigners employed by the deck, engine and catering departments of British steamers, and all must pass the language test.
(8) The British flag cannot be transferred to any foreign vessel.
(9) The British shipowner can buy another British vessel more easily than the foreigner, and if the foreigner pays the higher price, remember he is under exactly the same obliga- tions to Lloyd's, British Corporation or the Bureau Veritas for classification as under the British flag, and without this classification he cannot get cargoes.
(10) The fact that after dipping into reserves the average dividend paid by British shipowners for 1933 was 11 per cent, should be a sufficient indication of their financial position.
(11) If there be a word of truth in the "world's foulest floating slums and coffin-ships," what an indictment of the Board of Trade, under whose supervision British steamers (and foreign, too, if in a British port) come.
Mr. Bradshaw is not writing of what he knows. Clearly he is firing bullets for others, who for some reason will not come into the open. In the past thirty years there have been several agitators on behalf of the British seamen, one of whom last month, when brought to book (not on a maritime matter), instead of sticking to his guns, for which he would have been respected, got out of his trouble on the plea : " I did not say what they said I said."
For forty years in Liverpool I have been connected with shipping and with ships of all nationalities. This is my reason for replying to Mr. Bradshaw,—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
