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incumbent upon us to follow them into all the intricacies of this maddening problem. We prefer rather to look at the evidence, and see what experienced witnesses had to say about these dusky subjects of the Queen. There was Captain Chandler, for example, who, with twenty-four years' experience at sea, declared that in the eastern trade he would rather have twelve Lascars than eight European sailors. Then there was Captain Hood, who prefers Lascars decidedly, because they are always attentive, and never give trouble. Take them all through, they are, he says, very good sailors. Mr. Almond, nautical inspector of the P. and O. Company, stated that the vessels of that Corporation are better worked, are kept in better order, and are generally more efficient with mixed crews. Lascars, he explains, are not carried for economy, but because they are as efficient as Europeans, and are even more so as firemen in hot weather. They stick to the same ship year after year, it appears, and there have been instances where grandfather, father, and son have all been employed on the same vessel. Captain Castle, the well-known nautical assessor, with ten years' experience in the P. and O., described Lascars as excellent seamen, and added that he had been in two severe hurricanes with Lascar crews and had never found men behave better. This quite confirmed the previous statement of Mr. Almond, who said that under no circumstances of wind or weather had he found Lascar crews to fail him. So much for the oft-repeated suggestion of cowardice. Mr. W. J. Chambers, deputy-chairman of the Liverpool Shipowners' Association, declared that the engineer of one of his steamers had affirmed that he would not go to sea with a white crew for any money if he could get Lascars. Captain Cosens, a nautical assessor, who significantly said that if he had a Lascar crew he would always know where to find them in port, whereas with a European crew he would have to go round the comer, was pressed by some members of the Committee as to why Europeans are usually employed at the helm and on the lookout on ships manned by Lascars. His answer was that this was done largely for the protection of the owners in courts of law, and he recalled a little joke of the late Sir Charles Butt, who, when told that a native was engaged in a certain capacity on board ship, observed: "We know nothing of natives here, except oysters." All the same, the evidence before the Manning Committee went to show that Lascars—a term, by the way, of very wide application—make capital steersmen, satisfactory look-outs, and capable leadsmen. An outcry against these seamen having been instituted for trade union purposes, it was but natural, perhaps, that an attempt should be made to extract some damaging information concerning them. One suggestion on the part of the Committee was that Lascars, by sticking to their ships, commit the offence of shutting out a great deal of shore labour in British ports. The answer to this was an emphatic 'No.' Then it was hinted that Lascars are given to drink. Captain Hood said he had never seen one the worse for liquor; but this was far from satisfying one member of the Committee, whose judicial mind is indicated by his retort: 'But I suppose it is possible
