474 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



T11K LESSON OF THE '•TITANIC." 



Extra Boat accommodation on board the 8.8. 

 " Olympic." 



maritime destinies and safety of the 

 Empire in his hand. "What can such an 

 official really know of the manning 

 question or the loadline — even although 

 he may receive his prompting regularly 

 from his masters, the shipping inter- 

 ests? As long as the Advisory Com- 

 mittee of the Board of Trade conducts 

 its deliberations in secret, no real reform 

 can come. There must be a change in 

 this, and publicity of such deliberations 

 will be the best answer to those who be- 

 lieve — and we are afraid with good 

 cause — that the Advisory Committee is 

 simply a means of enforcing the will of 

 interested shipowners upon a supine 

 and incompetent marine department at 

 the Board of Trade. Germany is cer- 

 tainly far ahead of Great Britain in this 

 matter. Her great liners have always 

 been adequately equipped with boats, 

 and on the " Imperator," the new Ham- 



burg- Amerika liner, the number of offi- 

 cers has been increased. It is not to be 

 wondered at that the German vessels 

 are becoming more and more popular. 

 On the other hand, we find the Board 

 of Trade. One of the Japanese steam- 

 ship companies is now attaching a 

 coupon to its passenger tickets, reserv- 

 ing a seat in one of the life-boats to the 

 holder, who is requested to become 

 familiar with his place immediately he 

 goes aboard. This suggestion was 

 made to Lord Mersey during the en- 

 quiry into the loss of the " Titanic." 

 This has not been adopted by the Board 

 of Trade, and we find it also prepared 

 to ignore the obvious necessity of at 

 least three seamen in each watch on 

 lesser steamers, even although in this 

 instance it is probable that the bulk of 

 advice given was in favour of so ob- 

 vious a measure. The Board of Trade 

 seeks too much the outward show, plays 

 too much to the gallery, and thinks that 

 the establishment of a special ice patrol 

 (excellent and necessary though the 

 vessel is) enables them to allow 99 per 

 cent, of British vessels to go to sea 

 undermanned, under-officered, with in- 

 adequate supervision over boilers, boats, 

 and stores. It is in these directions that 

 reform must turn. The passenger com- 

 panies could easily be forced into tak- 

 ing every precaution which science can 

 devise — and why should thev not do 

 so ? — by one simple law — a law which 

 would make them liable to the full 

 amount of claims for passengers and 

 goods lost, instead of, as to-day, their 

 liability being so limited as to make it 

 a matter of more financial anxiety to 

 them to add an inner skin to one vessel 

 than to lose the lives of 1053 persons in 

 mid-Atlantic. Make the shipowner re- 

 sponsible for the lives of those he car- 

 ries, passengers and men, and then we 

 shall find the entire shipping federation 

 demanding reform at the Board of 

 Trade. As long as there is no respon- 

 sibility for lives lost, and while the 

 value of the vessel can be covered by 

 insurance, the lives of those who go 

 down to the sea in ships cannot hope 

 to be secured. So obvious is this that 

 those who are responsible in Parliament 

 for the welfare of the thousands on 



