COLOURED LABOUR ON SHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 960, 29 October 1910, Page 4

COLOURED LABOUR ON SHIPS.

■: ■■■; y » . ; y a WHAT WE OWE THE LASCARS, r In regard to the proposal for the'in- o traduction of legislation to prevent the employment of coloured seamen on ships trading to Now Zealand, Mr. G. John- . ston, of the''firm of Johnston and Co.,' local agents for the. 1',./and 0. Co., ( made some interesting remarks to a re- j porter yesterday afternoon. ' . ■ Mr. Johnston stated that the P. and c 0: Co. had been employing toloured , seamen for about sixty years. They j are tirst-class seamen and ; boatmen, amenable to discipline, strictly sober, , and are the same type of men that manned the East India Company's j licet', whichiassisted:to uphold .the pres- f tige of the English in the' Eastern seas j for so many years. The coloured sea- , men employed on. ships trading to New Zoaland and Australia, are - countrymen of the 170,000 native soldiers ' in India, wlio are the best soldiers in the w6rld, and upon whom' England • relies in l a great measure to uphold ■ her. su- ■ premacy in the East, and who may be called'upon to assist in defending the British possessions in Australasia in time of need. This has already been j the case in China, Egypt, and else- j where. '" ' . j The P. and O. Company pays its j coloured seamen a higher rate of pay j than rules at Bombay. .They are en- | gaged under the supervision of the In- j ,dian Government, and are on full pay from the time they leave 'India until ■ they return. The Indian •Government fixes the scale of provisions, the quantity and variety to ,be .provided are carefully detailed by them..' Warm clothes have also to lie served out to the men in cold weather. Sleeping accommodation is the same for coloured an for white seamen, the firemen have separate quarters. ; ■ Mr. Johnston put the question, Does the employment.; of coloured British subjects on board ships compete with New Zealand or. Australian' seamen or waterside, workers, ana if coloured seamen are dispensed with, how ' many Australasian-bom men will bo available to, man the P. and 0. Company's steamers? Also does the fact that tho P. and 0. Company employs coloured British seamen displace any New Zealanders from coastal or intercolonial boats, or does it deprive wharf labourers or coal lumpers of one hour's work at any of the ports touched at by tho company's' steamers? .