LIVERPOOL AND ITS SAILORS.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1903, 31 March 1880, Page 3

LIVERPOOL AND ITS SAILORS.

[From the London "Globe."J

A benevolent enterprise has just been started at Liverpool which the merchant princes of the great Lancashire port are supporting with the magnificent generosity they invariably display whenever the cause of humanity is at stake. The present scheme is the establishment of really comfortable homes for Beafuring people no longer capable of earning a living. Already the subscription list shows a very handsome total, one shipowner alona having subscribed £SOOO, and there is enough money in hand to commence the erection of the required buildings on the banks of the Mersey near Egremont. At the beginning, admission to these homes will bo restricted to ex-masters and ex-cfficers of Liverpool merchant ships, but we believe it is the intention of the founders to extend tho benefits of the institution to all ranks of mercantile marine connected with the port. Liverpool owes almost everything to her sailors, and it is right, therefore, that those who have amassed riches by tho labors of these hardworking men should do something for the latter when past work. It would be well however, if something of a self-supporting character could be given to the institution. In its present form it is a charity, a splendid charity truly, but nothing else. Could not those for whose future benefit it is intonded, be induced to set apart some Bniall portion of their wages for the maintenance of the endowment ? Jack is no longer such an improvident creatnre as he used to be, nor is ho much moro prone than his neighbours to make sandwiches of bank notes. A considerable number of sailors belonging to the Eoyal Navy have so far learned the profitableness of thrift that they are regular depositors in the Government Savings Bank, and some of them have accumulated quite handsome balances. Bearing this in mind, it would seem feasible to influence the merchant sailors of Liverpool to become regular contributors to the funds of

the now institution, on the understanding that when old and infirm they would bo entitled to participate in its benefits. Could this be effected, the institution would virtually hare the character of a benefit society for the local marine, thuß preventing that pauperising and more or less demoralising tendency which is inseparable from purely charitable organisations. We wish the venture every success and congratulate Liverpool on being the pioneer port in so praiseworthy a movement.