DIFFICULTIES AND REMEDIES 



By the new agreement referred to, trawlers were 

 classed as Navy ships and the crews as men under 

 naval discipline ; the result of which would have 

 been that they were not able to leave at will, and, if 

 of military age, were liable for military service if 

 they joined their ships. The agreement required 

 the men to sign on for the duration of the war and 

 not merely for the voyage. The engineers as a body 

 refused to accept these conditions without further 

 consideration bv their Unions, and subsequently 

 they declined to agree to them. With the object of 

 preventing a strike, which would dislocate food sup- 

 plies, the owners withdrew the agreement until con- 

 ferences could be arranged and the new proposals 

 considered from local and national standpoints. An 

 application for higher wages was then made by the 

 engineers, and after a good deal of discussion the 

 owners gave an all-round advance with the object of 

 raising the wages to the rate paid on certain trawlers 

 owned locally. This increase represented £2 lis. 6d. 

 weekly wages for a chief engineer, 10s. per trip risk 

 money, ^3 5s. od. quarter money, paid to all men 

 serving in one ship for three months, and 7s. 6d. 

 per ,£100 on the ship's gross earnings. The sum of 

 £1 had been given as risk money in most of the 

 trawlers, but no extra percentage on earnings. 



The rates of pay of ratings belonging to the 

 Trawler Section of the Royal Naval Reserve were 

 a? follows : 



207 



