Page:The Blight of Insubordination.djvu/62

54 for the minimum scale only can obtain when the operator's earnings are decided by and depend upon results. This, however, is a shipmaster's question, which will probably be heard of in other ways, for any person placed on a vessel under such conditions is beyond the reach of any disciplinary measures except that of the "boot and fist" style, which cannot make for contentment of any kind! If this latter day plan had been adopted by shipowners in a spirit intended to give their employees sufficient well cooked food there would not be much, except the question of discipline, to be said against it; but when we are told that in such vessels the master turning up— say in harbour—after the ordinary meal times has to pay even for a cup of tea, or anything he might require, it 1s not to be expected that any liberality is adopted for the sake of the proletariat. What the shipowner pays his contractor per head may be liberal or it may not, but the very fact of doing part of one's business in this manner implies a desire to be rid of trouble and responsibility in the matter. What has the contractor to do with the crew, or care for them either, when he never sees them or comes in touch with them at all, even in a less marked manner than the average ship manager, who rarely sees them in real life? It is much to be feared that this system will perpetuate the starvation food scale adopted in 1854 for British ships, and which costs to furnish the food supplied under it about sixpence per man per day. The detail of this amount is set out plainly in an article on Seamen's Food and Accommodation in the January number of the Nautical Magazine, 1901, and much besides that is interesting, and is not at all drawn upon by fanciful ideas. It must be a matter of very real regret that such a pernicious system has been permitted to get a footing, for the real comfort of the people affected by it must necessarily be of the lowest possible.

Lest it be considered from the remarks we have made concerning Lascars that we are unfair in comparing them with other crews, it is proper to state that under certain conditions a Lascar can give a good deal of trouble and annoyance too, for his frequent voyages to the United Kingdom have provided him with lots of opportunities of getting in touch with Trade Unionists' delegates and others who loaf round the docks and quays at seaports in the interests of their clients. The Lascar is not slow to learn even that which he could do well without, and under anything like weak control would soon show signs of the taint if he fancied himself being rubbed against the nap! If they occasionally squabble and row