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work on board both sailing ships and steamboats, and the report he makes must be very disheartening to those who have believed that the mariners of England were improving and not deteriorating. The Opinions he expresses and the actual facts he cites in justification of his views make it appear that a very large proportion of the sailors and firemen who serve in the British mercantile marine are 'dissolute idlers,' who are altogether unreliable. But may not his experience have been exceptional? He is convinced that the intemperate and neglectful habits of the seamen on the transports have been responsible for much of the troubles and disasters of the Boer war; and that Lascars and even Chinese are much more dependable for attention to duty. He recognises that the merchant steamers of the country have performed invaluable service to the nation in safely conveying so many thousands of troops, warlike stores, and provisions thousands of miles; but what has been accomplished was the result of the incessant vigilance maintained by masters and officers, who were subjected to endless worries through drink-loving sailors and firemen. Does he give a true picture of the general morals of the men employed in the mercantile marine? He claims to do so, and he ought to be circumspect when discussing the character of his own countrymen connected with the profession to which he himself belongs. If his statement is not gross exaggeration, if he even in an approximate degree accurately indicates the habit of those in forecastle and stokehole, it is evident that there is still abundant scope for the operations of seamen's missionaries. The subject is of national importance. When there is so much talk about shipping combines operating against the interests of the British mercantile marine, when our merchant ships have a hard struggle to keep their place on the waters, it is calculated to increase the seriousness of the aspect of affairs to be told that the sailors on whom so much depends are worthless. Perhaps the mariners who are thus discredited will find a champion of equal experience to their vigorous censor. We are certainly loth to accept Mr. Murdoch's description of seafaring toilers as accurately indicating the conduct and character of more than a very small number of undesirables, such as are to be found among all sections of the people. But the ventilation of the subject will serve a useful purpose if it helps the 'dissolute idlers' to see themselves as others see them."
The Liverpool Journal of Commerce, of July 3, 1902, has a few words on the subject from
"Mr. Consul Keene, who, in the course of his annual report upon the trade of Genoa, thus refers to desertion: Desertion (chiefly in the firemen and trimmers' department) is an evil to which this port is particularly exposed owing to its being, in most cases, the first port of call from the United Kingdom, especially for coal vessels. The men have received a half month's advance on engagement, and, having as yet nothing due to them on arrival here, are careless of the consequences of any misbehaviour, and if fined, desert, expecting after
