The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-08 00:00:00

Seamen for the Meichant Service.

The deficiency of British sailors for the supply of
our mercantile marine is, month by month, assum-
ing a more serious aspect, and the causes which lead
to this deficiency are daily becoming more clearly
manifest. Few more emphatic examples of cause and
effect can probably be found, and it requires no nau-
tical or scientific knowledge to discover that the evils
existing arc beyond the reach of cure by the estab-
lishment of training ships alone. A memorial from
170 seamen belonging to the north-east ports of the
United Kingdom has been forwarded to the Regis-
trar-General of Shipping for transmission to the
Board of Trade, containing an enumeration of griev-
ances appertaining specially to colliers and coasting,
vessels, Among these grievances are found the un-
dermanning of ships, five hands being employed in
vessels of from 154 to 196 tons, whereas seven is the
recognized and proper number ; that these veesels are
very commonly unseaworthy, being leaky in the
bulls, and deficient in canvas and cordage, and that,
as a consequence, the pumps are constantly at work,
and the running gear continually in want of repair,
to the exhaustion of the scanty crew employed ; that
the boats are frequently worthless, and useless as a
means of saving life ; that the forecastles are defi-
cient in length, width, and height, so that in some
cases a man must go to the hatch for room to put on
his clothes. The memorial goes on to observe that
the various sections of the Merchant Shipping Act
of 1854 have remained to all intents and purposes a
dead letter, and that in consequence of the continued
existence of these evils, " we (skilled labourers aswe
are, and valuable ones) gladly take any employment
on shore, where even the farm labourer, though he
runs little or no risk to life or limb, gets better
paid." So much for the coasting trade. Is the
tale better as to our ocean-going ships ? During
the past two years upwards of 200 accredited
cases of scurvy have been brought into this port
alone, in so bad a state as to require immediate
treatment in the hospital, this very inade-
quately representing the number of victims to
the disease, as the superintendents of Sailors'
Homes in London and elsewhere can attest. Seve-
ral inquests have been held during the present year '
on the bodies of seament who have died from this
malady, at one of which it was proved that the
mixture served out at sea was not lemon-juice at
all, and useless as au anti-scorbutic ; and, in conse-
quence of the verdict pronounced at another, the
master of a vessel was convicted and fined at the
Thames Police-court for not having a sufficient sup-
ply of that article on board. During the past three
months no less than 20 ships have arrived in the
Thames bringing cases of scurvy, and, in some in-
stances, from 20 to 70 per cent. of the crew were
practically disabled by that disease from efficient
duty. The root of this increasing evil is mainly due
to the fact that it is the exception rather than the
rule to carry drinkable, far less pure, lime or lemon-
juice on long-voyage ships. No medical question
is involved in the matter, or anything about which
doctors can differ, inasmuch as no scientific argu-
ments, however sound, or theories, however plau-
sible, are required to establish a fact that has been
known for the last two centuries, and acted upon for
the last 70 years ; that fact being that, if good lime
or lemon-juice be regularly given to the crew of a
ship, that crew will remain free from scurvy for a
period of 12 or 18 months, a far longer term of
water-passage than is ever reached by any of our
seagoing ships (except whalers) in the present day.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

BOMBAY, BARODA, AND CENTRAL INDIA.

The directors in their report state that there had
been a considerable improvement (amounting to
£103,467) in the gross receipts for the half-year
ending the 30th June last as compared with the
corresponding half of last year. This increase had
chiefly arisen in the merchandise department. The
gross receipts for the half-year amounted, on 306
miles, for goods and passengers to £238,629,
against £135,161 for passengers on 306 miles and
goods on 1851 miles in the same half of 1865. The
receipts per train mile in the past half-year came
to 11s. 51d., and for the corresponding period
last year to 13s. 41d., showing a decrease of Is. 11d.
per train mile. The receipts for passengers during
the half-year amounted to £2,486 for first-class, to
£5,967 for second-class, and to £85,715 for third-
class passengers—total, £94,168 ; and for the corre-
sponding half of 1865 to £90,654, showing an in-
crease of £3,514. The increase in the receipts for
third-class passengers amounted to £6,932, from
which must be deducted £933, the decrease in the
receipts for-first-class passengers, and £2,485 for
second- class, leaving the increase, as mentioned,
£3,514. The merchandise receipts amounted to
£127,674, against £41,806 in the same half of 1865,
showing an increase of 85,868. The gross receipts
for the year ending the 30th of June last amounted
to £425,184, and for the preceding year to
£198,582, showing an increase of £226,632. The
sea competition had not been without its injurious
effect upon the traffic of the railway in keeping down
the reasonable and remunerative rates that might
otherwise be obtained, as on neighbouring lines, and
also in lessening considerably the quantity of goods
conveyed by railway. This effect was increased by
three important but removable causes :-1. The site
of the present Ahmedabad terminus being on the
eastern side of the unbridged Saburmuttee river, a
barrier was unfortunately placed between the rich
traffic of the Kattywar district and the railway ; 2.
The want of proper roads and approaches to the
railway stations, which was especially felt through
the monsoon months, when the sea competition did
not exist ; 3. The long delay that had occurred in
handing over to this company the land necessary for
the line from
Grant Road to Calaba (Bombay) and
the terminal
buildings there. The result was to pro-
long the slow and
and carting all the
costly operation of transhipping
gaoodd.s coming to or from the
harbour of Bombay,
takeistance of 31 miles, when
coasting vessels could
the half-year ending the 30th of
June last amounted £140,074,t700.13er them there direct. The
working expenses for
increase ofT
cent., for the corre-
sponding or or 58.70 per cent.
0. half of 1865, showing •
hle4s trains 26 7.
in the past half-year, averaging 31
The train mile expenditure was 68. 83. . '
4d- against 9s.
41d., showing a decrease of 2s. 7.1 d.
as compared with 22 in the pre-
viousper vehicle
and the cost of haulage
vweehrieclehseapNeirertrain,
per mile had been reduced by 2Oper cent. The net
half-year ;
revenue for the half-year amounted to £98,555, being
• r •
41.30 of the gross receipts. The total receipts on
capital account to the 30th of June last amounted
to £5,648,934, and the expenditure to £5,761,664.
With regard to the extension of direct railway com.
munication from Bombay to Delhi and Agra Via
Baroda or Wassud and Neernuch, a question of im-
perial and growing importance, the directors were
happy to inform the proprietors that the Secretary
of State had sanctioned a further survey of that
line by the officers of this company during the pre-
sent working season, and they hoped that it might
be constructed at no very distant period, as it would
add most materially to the prosperity of the existing
railway.