20 



not desirable, but some better protection and care for the 

 lives of the lieges is demanded than is given. It is surely 

 discreditable that ships should be allowed to leave our 

 shores, the owners of which provide no better means of 

 natation, or possible escape from death, in the case of 

 wreck, foundering, fire, collision, or other cause of disaster, 

 than will suffice at most, and under the most favourable 

 conditions, for one in ten of the persons on board. It is 

 surely eminently unsatisfactory that any complaint concern- 

 ing the inadequacy of such provision should be met with 

 the Government explanation that " owners have complied 

 with the letter of the law, and cannot be compelled to do 

 more." Lost lives, if attributable to lax laws, are a shame 

 and a reproach to the law-makers of a great civilised 

 country ; a testimony to their (heartlessness, weakness, and) 

 unfitness to discharge their foremost function as the chosen 

 protectors of life and property. 



