We are extremely glad to see that the . Mercantile Marine
Service Association in its Memorandum, printed in Thursday's Times, is urging a suggestion made by us on several occasions, namely, that a certain amount of the money spent on technical education should be used to train boys for our greatest industry,—that of shipping. Every one admits that we want more British sailors in our mercantile marine, and that the best way to obtain them is to establish some system for training boys in the work of seamanship. The Memorandum in question asks that facilities should he given to ".every boy who wants to enter upon a sea-life to do so with a prospect of success." The Memorandum further declares that " the present training ships of the Indefatigable and Arethusa, type—supported for the most part by voluntary contributions from shipowners and the general publio—are totally inadequate" to accomplish this object. It is, therefore, urged that the full complement of boys should be maintained on the existing' ships, and that new ships should be estab- lished on similar lines around our coast. In our view, the maritime counties should each be obliged to devote a certain proportion of the technical education grant to marine technical education. The great maritime counties and cities should establish each their own training-ship, while the smaller counties might be grouped. In addition, the Imperial Govern- ment might give-a capitation grant -to every boy who entered the- Naval Reserve. The great thing is to insist upon the maritime counties and .cities having a specific obligation in the matter of marine technical education.
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