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remarks and other matter contained in the following pages were collected and written last year, after the appointment of the Mercantile Marine Committee by the Board of Trade to inquire into certain questions concerning the Service was announced as an accomplished fact, and intended for publication as a magazine article before the year closed.

Several circumstances conspired and prevented this being carried out.

The Report of the Mercantile Marine Committee, though published in June this year, did not reach the writer's hands until much later, owing to the exigencies of voyaging to many places. It was, however, forthwith appropriated as a fitting appendix to what we hope may be interesting to those who have a kind regard for the welfare of the Merchant Service.

W. H. H.


 * November, 1903.