BEFORE THE MAST

Hokitika Guardian, 29 September 1931, Page 2

BEFORE THE MAST

PLIGHT OF BRITISH MARINERS. EFFECT OF SHIPPING SLUMP. < More than 1000 officers and 45.000 seamen of the British Mercantile Marine are out of work. In British and Irish ports 752 ships are laid up, and 2,044,00 tons' of shipping are unemployed. These are the glaring feats which have led the “Daily Herald” to begin exhaustive inquiry in the great seaports and amongst the organisations catering for officers and seamen, The object is to find the causes of the existing depression—and the remedies for if>. Grave disclosures of the hardships of sea-going officers are made in the halfyearly report iof the Officers’ (Merchant Navy) Federation. The federation has knowledge of 1048 unemployed captains, navigating and engineer officers in the United Kingdom. It is believed that there is an even larger number of unemployed officers outside of the federation membership.

“We have information,” it is stated, “of at least two ships which have been entirely manned on deck by certificated officers, and there is a considerable number of officers who have signed on in the forecastle, in ships ordinarily manned. “It is almost impossible to use words of exaggeration in describing the plight of some officers, •SELLING NEWSPAPERS. “One master mariner with an excellent record (including a decoration for war service) writes to the effect that he is glad to earn a few shillings at occasional work of scene-shifting, and augments such earnings by the sale of newspapers. “Others are cleaning windows, working as waiters and selling goods by door-to-door canvassing. "Several are living in London i.-: destitute homes, and are definitely known to be walking London daily, diligently seeking honourable employment. “One recently, in his weary search, collapsed exhausted in the street near by (St. Paul’s Cathedral. The federation suggests a pension scheme supported by 5 per cent, contributions from the officers and an equal amount from the sh powners-