ALIENS ON BRITISH SHIPS

Dominion, 14 August 1919, Page 5

ALIENS ON BRITISH SHIPS

' « NAVY ROBBED OF RESERVE MEN A PROTEST (By Lieut.-Com. tho Hon. J. 31. Kenworthy, M.P.) There is a notable omission in tile new Aliens' Restriction Bill now before Hid House of Commons. There is no provision for tho exclusion of aliens from serving in Biitish inercliunt ships. I have already drawn the. attention of the Minister in charge of tho Bill to tho matter, and I hope to bo able to have the omission put right when the Bill comes up for second reading. I know (hat tho officers and men of our magnificent mercantile marine object to sailing with aliens. . Many of theso are good seamen, and.good fellows too. But all these alien seamen have this in common — they will work raider . conditions and for wages which a Britisher will not tolerate. Particularly is this the case with regard to alien officers in iho merchant service. It is a melancholy fact that in soino lines of ships the wages of officers hove been kept down in the past iby the fact that it has been legal for. British shipowners to employ alien officers in British ships. This Was even permitted during the war! . At the beginning of November, 1918, no fewer than 90 aliens were still in command of British ships, and at the same timo there ivero British shipmasters walking the streets of Liverpool unci Hull without; employment. And many of these British captains had had their ships sunk under them in the submarine campaign!

Tlio Main Objections,

There are other objections. Our merclinnt seamen should bo the great reserve for the Navy in war time. Every foreigner employed in a British shin, before or abaft tho mast, is not only depriving an Englishman or Scotsman of a job, but is depriving the British Navy of one embryo man-of-warsman in case of war. Only devotion to country and the pur. est patriotism impelled oiir merchant seamen to put to sea agnin and again in faco of the intensive submarine war. Foreigners could not have' been expected to face such risks for a country not their own. No ono looks for another war. But these catastrophes come quickly, and it is well to be prepared. In the hour of trial we want our ships to bo manned by Britishers. Then there is tho ever-pre. sent risk of accident at sea in peace or war. With women and children on board ship, there will bs no danger of rushed, boats after a collision if the crews are alljßritish. Many of the Europeans and Asiatics who now help to man our snips are liable to panic at,6ea. in face of sudden danger. Every seaman 'knows that it is the Britisher he wants alongside of him in times of peril and shipwreck on the high seas. Four Remedies. Now it will be asked, "Why have foreigners been tolerated in British ships up till now?" Some of the ship-owners will reply that they cannot run their ships at a profit unless cheap alien labour is employed. If this is really the case there are four remedies: (a) Subsidies to British steamship lines. But "spoon feeding" and industry is bad for it, particularly shipping. Foi all their subsidies, foreign mercantile fleets have never really competed with our own in.the pnst. Also, money will bo tight in tho future, and we ought not to start fresh expenditure of this description if it call possibly bo avoided. ■ ... (b) Pooling of all tonnage and com trcl of freight and shipments by tho Council-of the League of Nations. This may have to bo done in any ease. But ,it will b? n difficult task, and this country is almost bound to suffer if it is carried out. (c)' Nationalisation. I see no objection to the great monopolies, 'being nationalised—railways, canals, mines, and electrical power in particular. But we have all too few efficient lnn-eaucrats as it is (there are plenty of tho othov sort), and owing to its peculiar nature I would rather srn other means of transport nationalised be-foro shipping is touched. And so, I believe, would the majority of thoss employed in the inprcantilo marine. In any case, it would have to be. gradual, as we simply have not tho trained officials .to cops with the work of running the mercantile, marine of this country on business line.3 as a national service, "(d) Intarnational Labour Legislation, applied to seamen, with a. minimum wago and standard of living, compulsory, for all seafarers.

This' Inst is bciiy attempted now, and seems to promise the best results'.

There is much to be said for confining the coastwise trade of these islands to British shins. We would not allow our railways to 1)0 run by forcißiiors; still less, we hope, our internal nci'inl transnort of the future. Why should not thu sea-carrying service, from one British port to another ho "all British" too?