BLUEJACKETS’ PAY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 48, 21 February 1912, Page 3

BLUEJACKETS’ PAY.

Though men of the mercantile marine still quote the saying that ‘‘the man who woiijkl go to senior pleasure y.-pukl go toTophct for amusement,” the lot of the, jperchant jailor has ,i?n----t proved \,steadily. But,, ■ except, pel - haps in 'Australasian waters, ho is si ill far beliind the shore worker. Slowly he has improved his condition by collective bargaining. The bluejacket has beep unable to do this. ' lic'ljeldhgs to the ‘lSilont-Navy” ; he lives and moves and has his being under the shadow of the Articles oi War, subservient to the King’s Regulations’ byi.iday and by night. By becoming the King’s man he ceases to enjoy many ofithe privileges of civilian citizenship i held by, others of hje class. And because he cannot speak for himself, few have bothered to speak for him. Amidst all the talk of labour unrest, and the increasing . iteration of demands for higher wages, few people have had the knowledge brought to them that the British bluejacket has received scarcely any advance in his pay for sixty years. It occasions surprise to read that since the present voluntary system of manning the fleet was adopted in 1852, the average bluejacket has received no actual increase in pay, though certain allowances for extra duty have boon introduced. Then the seaman was paid Is 7d per day; now he gets Is Bd. Considering how the value of property has changed against him, it is easy to see that his pockets arc no better lined now than they were then. When the first-class boy, with his sevenpence a day, is rated an ordinary seaman, he is given Is 3d a day, without any prospect of earning goodconduct pay or badge, and eventually, when he is rated able seaman, he obtains Is Bd. As a leading seaman his pay ranges from Is lOd to 2s a day—or from £33 9s 2d to £36 10s a year, to put the matter more simply, and out of the this he has too keep up and replace as need be his kit—for the nation treats the bluejackets less generously in this respect than the soldier—and he has to supplement the official dietary and meet all the inevitable expenses of life when ashore, not forgetting railway fares when on leave. When ho is promoted to petty officer he is a little better off, for Ins pay rises then to 2s Bd. After six years he may rise to the riches of £54 5s per annum. The naval stoker, too, has his grievances against the pay-sheet. A second-class stoker receives Is 8d per day, rising to 2s *ld when ho enters the first class. Most people will agree with the naval correspondent of the “Evening Standard,” who says'that there is a claim on the nation for a reconsideration of the pay of the men of the fleet, and the Board of Admiralty which meets this claim justly will certainly not sink in the esteem of those whose existence depends on British supremacy afloat.