The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-24 00:00:00

PLAN FOR ITS FUTURE SUPPLY.
54. Having thus obtained, in the first instance,
by careful selection from adults now in the merchant
service, the number required to constitute this body,
we recommend that the following provision be made
for its future supply :--We propose that school
ships should be established in the principal com-
mercial ports, capable of accommodating from 100
to 200 boarders in each ship, of whom 100 should
be supported by the State.
55. The boys should be of respectable parentage,
strong, and healthy ; and if any difficulty arose as
to the mode of making the selection we doubt not
that the inspectors employed by the Committee of
Council for Education in Great Britain, and the
Education Commissioners in Ireland, would readily
assist in obtaining from the different schools
throughout the United Kingdom the requisite num-
ber. We have reason to believe that by this means
the whole number would be readily obtained, and a
considerable stimulus given to the cause of educa-
tion. These boys should be sent for approval, medi-
cally and otherwise, to the coastguard ship, or the
naval surgeon should attend on board the school
ship to admit them.
56. Besides these 100 boarders the school would
be open to all children residing at the ports. The
last would be day scholars, and would contribufr
weekly. The school would also be open to other
boarders, whose expenses, however, would not be
defrayed by the State, and they therefore would
probably not be numerous at first.
57. While in the school the boys should re-
ceive not only the requisite instruction for the
merchant service, but also some of the peculiar in-
struction requisite for the navy, gunnery, &c. ; and
those of them who went into the merchant service
would probably have the opportunity of revisiting
a school ship occasionally when their own ships
returned to port, so as to keep up the instruction
they had received.
58. We propose further that the school ships, as
they would be intended to train boys principally
for the merchant service, should be placed in a
great degree under the direction of the civil branch
of the Administration—i.e. the Registrar-General
of Seamen, and through him, under the Board of
Trade. This would be the more convenient because
if day scholars were received the ship must always
be moored in the port with ready access to the
shore, while the coastguard ship would probably
be sometimes absent on duty. The military part
only of the training would be dependent on the
coastguard officers, and there ought to be no diffi-
culty in the Registrar's receiving such instructions
as would obviate the danger of any inconvenience
arising between the two branches of the service.
59. When the time of training in the school ships
had expired the boys should be inspected, and those
whom the inspectors placed at the head should
have the option of going, if they preferred it, and
if fully qualified, into the Royal Navy. This option,
however, would apply only to a limited number,
according to the wants of the navy; the majority
would probably go into the merchant service.
60. We further contemplate that when the system
has been fairly established and has proved success-
ful in practice it may be found desirable to unite
the training ships for the navy with those for the
volunteer force, and to raise boys for both services
on board the same ships. We anticipate, as the
results of such an arrangement, greater economy
in regard to the training ships, and the creation of
those kindly feelings between the boys destined
for the two services which it is of the utmost im-
portance to encourage.
61. But, speaking exclusively of the school ships
for the volunteer force, we will assume that the
number of boys nominated and approved by the
naval authorities would be 1,200 annually, and that
as many more would be furnished from the sea-
ports, so that in all 2,400 boys would be supplied
annually by these school ships to the maritime
occupations of their country.
62. We conceive that the shipowners would be
willing to take in each year the whole number.
The great increase which has recently taken place
in the number of apprentices encourages us to be-
lieve that well-trained boys would be highly valued
by the shipowner, and we, therefore, propose that
the shipowner should during the engagement make
for the boy a contribution to the fund of which we
are about to speak. This contribution would be
only a small return for the cost of the boy's educa-
tion. While the apprenticeship continued the boy
would not be under the obligations of the volunteer
force, but would be as available in every respect
for his employer as any other apprentice.
63. The Registrar of Seamen would undertake
the management of the indentures of the boys to be
trained in the school ships as he now does of boys
apprenticed through the shipping offices ; he recom-
mends that they should be sent at 13 years of age
under articles to the superintendent of the school
ship, with a covenant of assignment ; the schooling
to be one year, the subsequent service four years.
64. At the close of the apprenticeship the habits
acquired, the inducements of pay and promised
pension, and the knowledge that four years' contri-
bution had been paid for him by the shipowner to
the pension fund would, we think, as a general rule,
draw the sailor at once into the body of volunteers.
65. In some cases, however, youths of 18 might
prefer to go for a while on the long voyages. We
propose, therefore, that the Board of Admiralty
should authorise the shipping master, when each
apprentice comes out of his articles, to offer him
immediate entry into the volunteer corps, and also
in a certain proportion of cases to give leave of ab-
sence for a specified time. In the latter case the
claim to pension would revive if the sailor at the
expiration of the leave returned to the short
voyage ; but his annual pay would not be allowed
during the period of his absence. By an ar-
rangement of this kind the whole number of
men in the volunteer force would be larger than
the number paid for, and in case of war it would
be in the power of the Crown to call on the
men, wlterever they might be, to join her Ma-
jesty's vessels on their respective stations. A simi-
lar leave might also be given to adults now serving
in the long voyages, and who might be willing to
join the volunteer force.
66. We think also that probably some youths
' would be deterred from joining if it were obligatory
upon them to continue in it for life, and especially
in the event of their becoming masters or mates
in the merchant service. We propose, therefore,
that at the end of each period of five years it shall
be in the option of any one to withdraw, and that
the same option shall arise when a youth obtains
the certificate of the Board of Trade, and becomes
master or mate of a merchant ship. The only
penalty on any one who retires will be the loss of
his claim to a pension, unless he elect to continue
the necessary contribution out of his own funds.
This permission to retire will admit of a larger
number of the whole merchant seamen of the coun-
try: passing through the force, and so becoming
trained in gunnery, while the country will not be
charged with any additional payment on tha
account.

PENSION FUND.
67. We will now speak of the pension fund, to
which allusion has been already made. We pro-
pose that it shall be self-supporting. We attach
the greatest importance to this point, for, although
the annual contributions of the volunteers are to be
paid by the State, yet we wish to admit to the
benefits of this fund every seaman, whether in the
navy or in the merchant service, who may think
proper to contribute. We believe that the volun-
..

tart' contributors, probably not numerous at first,
would become more numerous as the advantages of
the. pension to the volunteers became known, and
especially after the influence of the school ships in
raising the character of the service had become per-
ceptible. And in proportion as the fund became
general would the service be more and more closely
attached to and united with our system of maritime
defence. The machinery for managing such a fund
is already in existence at the Board of Trade, and
we propose that, accurate tables having been pre-
pared by some competent actuary, stating the
pension to which each man will be • entitled
in proportion to the amount of his con-
tributions, the contributors should have the
guarantee of the State for the due payment of
their pensions. We also recommend that a married
man, when he became entitled to his pension, should
have the option of taking either the full pension, or
a smaller one, according to the table, payable on
his own and his wife's lives.
ANNUAL PAYMENT AND CONTRIBUTION TO FUND.

68. The next point to be considered is the amount
of the annual payment which will be sufficient to
induce the seaman to join the volunteer force, and
the amount of the contribution which it will be ne-
cessary to pay to the pension fund for the purpose
of securing to him an adequate pension in old age.
69. We have examined the Registrar-General of
Seamen, the shipping masters, and other witnesses
on these points, and we have come to the conclusion
that an annual payment of £5 is that which we
ought to recommend, desiring to obtain for this
force the very best men in the merchant service.
This sum must be tested by actual experiment, and
may hereafter be either diminished or increased
according to the result. We are also informed by
the actuary to the National Debt office that an
annual contribution of £1 from the age of 14 would
secure to the sea m 1)=4)110 not leBs than 412