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take the first and last hands in the game, the case does not alter. Syren and Shipping of the 2nd July, 1902, has an article on "War honours for the Merchant Navy," which we take the liberty of quoting.:
"At least 1,000 officers and 80,000 men have served the State, during the recent war, on board all sorts and conditions of merchant. ships—transports, hospital ships, and store ships, and there is not the least need for us to demonstrate that they have carried this highly important work to a successful issue with skill, courage and devotion to duty. Are they to be the only class of non-combatants to be either. forgotten or ignored when medals and ribbons are bestowed? England cannot do other than reward the men of her mercantile marine who were ever ready in her hour of need, and without whom her very existence as a nation would be imperilled. Many of her sailor sons, some. of them, be it remembered, officers of the Royal Naval Reserve who. resigned their commissions for the purpose, volunteered for the front and saw much active service in one or other of the various army corps that carried the British flag to victory. It is not of these men we desire to write, inasmuch as they will certainly receive the war medal or such recognition as shall be awarded to Tommy Atkins in the near. future. We are here more nearly concerned with the officers and men of the British merchant ships that carried to South Africa the troops with phenomenal immunity from shipwreck or disaster of any kind, and also those officers and men who served steadfastly on board the several ships devoted to hospital purposes, or that in any way contributed to the success of the British arms in South Africa. The War Office, the Admiralty and the Board of Trade all appear to regard with favour the views set forth by the friends and representatives of our merchant seamen that they should receive recognition in the shape. of a decoration of some sort. After the first Egyptian Expedition in 1882, when Arabi Pasha was overthrown, the Egyptian medal and the Khedive's bronze star were bestowed upon the masters of all hired transports which had arrived in Egyptian waters within a specified period, and thus contributed to ensuring for England the fruits of victory. What is it then that apparently stops the way, when a question is raised with respect to the eminent desirability of dealing similarly with the officers and men of the merchant ships engaged in bringing South Africa within measurable distance of the heart of the British Empire? We know for a fact that officers of high rank in the Royal Navy would be delighted by the country quickly awakening to the excellent assistance rendered to the British Army in South Africa by the ships and the crews of our mercantile marine. We may have the money, we may even have the ships; but it will be a bad day for England should she even be in want of masters, officers and men, of British birth, to take the ships to sea and bring them back again without mishap. Depend upon it, if Germany had brought so harassing a. war to a successful issue, Kaiser Wilhelm would have strained every nerve to reward not only his war navy, but also his merchant navy.
