DEBT TO SEAMEN

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1940, Page 6

DEBT TO SEAMEN

MERCANTILE FLEET MEN

taranaki recognition admiration expressed

The British navy was playing its historic part, in conjunct'ion with the Royal Air Force, in defending the Kmpire, but there was another force without whose support the navy, the air force and the army would fight in vain, the British Mercantile Marine, declared Mr. E. R. C. Gilmour, Mayor of New Plymouth, at a reception to senior Shaw, Savill and Albion officers yesterday. The many speakers echoed his expression of admiration for the merchant fleet. The debt of the Dominion and the Empire to the mercantile marine and the Royal Navy was first acknowledged by the chairman of the New Plymouth Harbour Board, Mr. C. E. Bellringer. They felt, he pointed out, heartfelt gratitude for the magnificent service of a fine body of men. It ^as hard to realise how far-reaching were the eflects of their work as they went about their lawful occasions. When landsmen thought of sailors who ran great risks and faced grave perils their hearts were stirred. It was impossible for words to express their admiration for what these men were doing. In times of peace the British merchant marine was viewed by the people of the Empire in terms of luxurious liners, holiday cruises and minor things of that nature, and the great shipping companies were left to carry on as best they could without ' financial assistance, with their existence often imperilled by the unfair competition of ships heavily subsidised by the foreign nations whose flags they flew, the Mayor commented. Immediately war broke out the public and the Governments woke up with a jolt, and the true value of the mercantile marine was realise^. It was probably the most important factor in the preservation of the life and security of the Empire. Merchant shipping had to be protected by the navy, but it also protected the navy, and indeed the army and the air force. Those forces could get neither food for their men nor fuel for their ships or machines unless the merchant supply brought those commodities across the dangerous seas. The people of New Plymouth would not forget, in peace or in war, the debt they owed. Their upbringing and British birth accounted for the way they were able to do their work, commented Captain W. Dawson when replying to the welcome. From the time they first went to sea they had to fight nature and were continuafly looking out for their own safety and that of others. That was good training for anything that war might bring. The people of the Empire. including the seamen, had a spirit which was the product • of generations gone by, added Captain Dawson. Without that spirit the Empire would have faded a long time ago. No one section could do without the other, so every man and woman had to work as a cog in a very good machine.