THE "LOOK-OUT MAN."

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 327, 8 December 1875, Page 4

THE "LOOK-OUT MAN."

There ia (aaya the Australasian) something grimly comic ia the statement which appears this week amongst our telegraphic items, that the evidence taken regarding the late disastrous collision between the two ironclads— the Vanguard and Iron Duke — proved that the "look-out man" of one of them was " purblind." Just attend for a moment to the incredible folly of the position. These two great ships were, wish others of the squadron, cruising about in a dense fog. Their safety depended largely on the efficiency of the look-out ; and yet, although on the Vanguard they probably had some 400 or 500 men on board to select from, they chose one man who, whatever might be his other physical, mental, and moral qualifications for the post, was , deficient in the indispensable one of : sight. One is tempted/ to ask by what extraordimw principle of selection such a choice was made ? Doubtless there is some highly satisfactory official answer, some invariably stupid system of routine, according to which the task fell upon that man at that particular moment, and which could not be departed from however, the safety of the ship might be jeopardised, It ia easy to understand all this. And, indeed, curious as the position aVflrst sight appears, it is nothing to the foity^which we see exhibited every day in political life. There, also, we have to select some look-out men who have much to do with the steering of the State ship, and is is not necessary to say much on the choice we make, to show that it exhibits absurdities quite equal to that of the Vanguard. Let anybody run through the list of our members of Parliament— our assemblage of the wisest— and ask himself if in the great majority of cases they are better qualified for their position than that unhappy purblind "look out man."