MARITIME REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 58, 2 December 1907, Page 7

MARITIME REFORM.

, MANNING. ■A COUNSEL OF CAUTION. MR. LLOYD-GEORGE AND THE. UNIONS. BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPTRIGIIT. London, November 29. A representative number of trades unions wai£o(l on Mr. D. Lloyd-Georgtf, President of the lioard of Tra.de, relative to tho enforcement of powers for tho proper manning of British ships. Mr. Lloyd-George said it would be unwise to rush shipowners all at once with ovory kind of roform. More, has been dono in tho last two years to benefit seamen than during the previous thirty. Tho business of tho Legislature was to force a reluctant recalcitrant minority up to the level of tho better type of shipowners. Manning was uot merely a question of numbers, but efficiency and competency. Mr. Lloyd-Georgo promised to recommend the Advisory Commit-too to consider the question of under-jnanuing, and added that .much depended on improvement in tho conditions of the mercantile marine. Sailoro, too, must remember that they also had a duty to perform—tliey were not altogether free of blame, Tho question of manning was discussed by the Imperial Maritime Conference. New Zealand has a statutory manning scale for various classes of vessel, but the Conference resolved "that conditions as to accommodation for the crew and manning imposed by Australian or Now Zealand laws shall apply only to vessels registered in those countries." Tho farthest that the Conference—as for tho whole Empirewent towards compulsory manning—and this was on the suggestion .of Mr. Lloyd-George— was in resolving "thnt no ship be deemed seaworthy unless in a fit state, in regard to the number and qualifications of the crew, including officers, to encounter the ordinary perils of a voyage." In the courso of tho discussion prior to passing this resolution, tho Conference had learned, from an incidental remark dropped by an expert of the Board of Trade, that the Board insisted on a certain minimum of officers and crew before recognising a vessel as seaworthy. Sir William Lyno (Australia) stated that it was a contention of shipowners that, to produce efficient manning according' to tho elements of seaworthiness, every ship ought to be judged on its own merits, instead of enforcing a; statutory .uniform scale for each class. Mr. W. M. Jlughes (Australia) suggested the appointment of a committee to adjust anomalies.