The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-23
STANDARD PLAN
 OF SEA TRAINING
 FOR ENCLISHMEN
Navy and Merchant Marine System Will Be Made Uni
 form by Empire

0ySUOUA w ILL 0O AAAceAO V A4-
 form by Empire
 London, England. July 23-The Ma tional Committee on Sea Training has given to the public press series of recommendations for a common sys- tenn of sea training, suited both to the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Ma rine. The chief points of the memor- andum are as follows:
 There should be a standardized sys-t tenn of training for boys desiring to enter the sea services, which should be on the same lines up to a certain point (e. g., 13 years of age), and thereafter have a special division for each service. A complete scheme ex- ists, and it has been actually in force in very large and successful train ing institution, the Exmouth for some years past.
 The Royal Naval Reserve boy pro- bationer should be restored, and every boy trained as seaman should be induced to enter it. ! This would Gnter- alia) facilitate the taking over by the Admiralty of the seamen from the Mercantile Marine, if necessary, in time of war.
 There should be a pension scheme for the trained merchant seamen who keep the sea and retain their mem bership of the Royal Naval Reserve, and the funds of Greenwich hospital should be utilized in that connection. It is not generally known that that intitution, was originally founded for the benefit of both services, and that under and 8 William III, cap. 21, "a
 sum. of f41O,000 was actually taken from seamen in the Mercantile Marine | in deductions from their wages, not | a penny of which they ever received | (according to an official statement l made by the registrar general of sea-
 men in the Report of the Royal Com l mission on the Manning of the Navy, 1859, D. 39O), so that there is a nu- cleus of such a fund owed by Parlia-
 ment to the Merchant Service. There should be a recognized scale
 of wages for trained and certified men
 in the Mercantile Marine, with separ- I ate sleeping accommodation and spe- cia1 supervision for boys.
 There should be more continuity of employment with obligations on both
 sides, For this purpose an amend I fnent of the Merchant Shipping Act 1 Is necessary.
 I There should be Board of Trade l Cor Admiralty official in each large shipping center to keep in touch with q the boys and provide continuity o1 employment, insuring yearly engage ments as far as possible.
 As an inducement to give a prefer. T ence to trained boys, and in lieu o1 the old remission of iglat dues for this
 purpose or pecuniary grant in its place, shipowners should be allowed
 ko ship boys who have been for two T years in an approved training ship ol
 institution with, if possible, three months on a sea-going tender in the same proportion to able seaanen a: ordinary seamen are now shipped. Af. ter two years at sea, such boys ol , young men should be permitted tt
 qualify as A. B.
 On pages. three and four of the Con. tinuous Certificate of Discharge, i1 , addition to information already il , force, a form should be inserted set , ting out in what establishment tn, boy was trained, together with
 statement of his ability and characte P while undergoing training.
 s The country should be mapped ou , into districts with centers e. g., >(1 London, (2) Liverpool, (3) Hull, (4 , Tyneside, (5) Bristol and Cardiff, (6 3 Southampton, CD Leith, (s) Glasgow ei (9) Belfast, (10) Cork, GID Dublin The countries in the surrounding dis 8 tricts should be grouped round thes @ centers, and an establishment with e sea-going tender should be provided 1 = none such exists, by some local au
 tnority to act as a finishing school t g the local nautical schools, so as t s keep a close connection between tn r local authorities and the central au e thority which should be preferably tn >, Admiralty.
 t An estimate should be made of tn n number of boys to be trained for tn :. sea to meet the requirements of tn = two sea srvices. The Liverpool Stear Il Shipowners Association indicated i - 1912 that 5000 boys should be annual . fy trained to meet the needs of tn T Mercantile Marine alone. The mum . Der under training in 1912 in institu 'e tions for boys. of good character di
 not exceed 1900, and the output fo
 1912 was 1051 boys trained for tn / sea of whom the Royal Navy took 46
 leaving only 582 for the Mercantil t Marine.