The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1911. LASCARS AND BRITISHERS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 4, 29 June 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1911. LASCARS AND BRITISHERS.

Nothing that the biassed heads of shipping houses or their paid servants have said in regard to the superiority of the lascar seaman over the white seaman convinces any reasonable Britisher that it is right to oust the latter for the former. We have lately heard that the heavily gilt shipping companies do not employ lascars in preference to white men for motives of economy, "because the wages paid are similar and the lascar is the more reliable." Inferentially, the shipping companies acknowledge—! 1) That a white man should be! paid as small a wage as the lascar; (2) J that the white man should hustle to be- I come as fine a fellow as his dark'brother.! Mr. W. Belcher, of Duncdin, probably gave to Sir Joseph Ward the idea of the latter's resolution moved at the Imperial Conference by way of laying the founda- j tions for the Dominion's own control of its shipping matters and the manning of ships. Mr. Belcher's views are sound enough, and are common to all nien who probe beneath the surface of the purely commercial side of the question. To crystallise these ideas. Mr. Buxton, president of the Board of Trade, appears to think that the interests of the overseas dominions should be subordinated to its interests of a limited number of coolies;! that Australasia must be made to "toe the mark," because of the notions of conservative shipping men at Home; that the colonial seafarer must be placed on an economic and social equality with the lascar and must be content to sink his Imperialistic ideal. By far the most' important aspect is the one we have frequently referred to—the inutility of the lascar or other Asiatic in time of stress nt sea. Everyone wants to know how these obedient and superior Asiatics arc going to behave at a time when their ships are auxiliary to a fighting navy. Everyone wants to know why at such a time a British ship will carry a neutral crew, a crew that dare not lift a hand in defence and which will not desire to. Everyone wants to know if, seeing that the lascar is the better man to have about an auxiliary warship in time of peace (and war?) why not man warships with him? The Admiralty has not yet discovered the competency of the lascar, and, of course, it is not possible for them to use lascars if everyone of them was as busy as a.bee, as sober as a Turk, and as powerful as an elephant. But if the principle of manning mercantile ships with lascars is right, it is right to help to man the navy with our well-behaved and meek brothers. The shipping companies, which are so blind to the Imperial; aspect are just as blind to the occasional vagaries of the lascar—his disposition to run amok with a poker, or to create a riot ashore. One other danger. The Asiatic develops, surprising power of imitation away from his own country. The Asiatic seaman is a probable settler. If he is permitted to oust British seamen on British ships he will yet oust the white settlers. He is clever, cheap, enterprising, untiring. There are uncountable myriads of him, and he increases surprisingly. He is our brother, but we want him to stay at home. He is a problem in Nata! and elsewhere in United. South Africa; he is practically mopping up Fiji: he persists in planting his bundle on Australian soil; and he brings his own sins and diseases with him. Britain says that we must have Asiatic erews in these waters, speaking from the standpoint of a crowded country which has no charms for the Asiatic. Australia and the Pacific islands have a tremendous attraction for the Hindoo and other Asiatic peoples, and Britain persists that she is' unable to see our point of view. When those British Ministers visit Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands it is hoped that the Australasian people will insist on illustrating our point of view by taking them carefully round the great unguarded coastlines and then asking them what a tinv handful of people are going to do supposing any Asiatic nation should desire some new territory for its uncountable millions?