Their names may be removed from the list for misconduct, or if their merchant service certificate is canceled. The age for compulsory retirement is from 45 to 50 years, according to rank. ENGINEER OFFICERS. For engineer officers the rules are the same, excepting that very little training with the fleet is required of them. ASSISTANT PAYMASTERS. Pursers of first class British steamers may receive appointments as assistant paymas ters. MEN. Seamen and Stokers. Applicants must be— (a) British subjects (colored men not accepted). (b) Free from physical defect. (c) Between 18 and 25 years of age. (e) Girth around chest not less than 32 inches. (f) Enroll for five years. They may re-enroll for further periods of five years if of good conduct, up to a total period of twenty years. PAY AND PENSIONS. Same as Royal Navy, but only when training or in active service. ANNUAL RETAINER. For seamen and stokers, £6. For leading seamen and stokers throughout the twenty years, £8. GRATUITY. Men who complete the twenty years' serv ice are granted a gratuity of £50. been The conclusion has doubtless reached from a consideration of the facts and circumstances herein before set forth, that a merchant marine is more necessary to the armed forces of our country than it is to the trade expansion of the nation. Merchantmen are a vital element in our scheme of preparedness, and preparedness for defense is and should be the first consideration of our people. It is the purpose of this volume, however, to appraise the value of a merchant marine from the standpoint of every national interest, whether it be in the pursuits of peace or in the stress of war. SHIPPING PROBLEMS AND DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES. CHAPTER V. Many important elements which enter into the steamship business, not heretofore mentioned, must be given consideration in any movement for the rehabilitation of our merchant marine. These may not be necessarily determining in their character, but they have sufficient bearing upon the problem as a whole to entitle them to special attention. Otherwise the question which we, as a nation, are now facing would not be fairly comprehended. We are proposing to set up an industry which shall successfully compete with the well-organized and securely entrenched merchant fleets of the world. Many of us are sincerely convinced that this can be done, but we are not unmindful of circumstances which make this difficult and which will call into play all our business resource fulness. There are conditions which exist today, however, conditions which we could not have foreseen ten, five, or even three years ago, which tend to equalize navigation handicaps and to place us in a far better position than in the past with respect to our maritime rivals. Our shipping will be burdened still in some particulars, but if we are able to measurably offset this by means of systematic economies and a less expensive plan of financing, we may launch our enterprise with a reasonable expectation of building up an interest that will not only yield direct returns to the immediate investor, but which will confer collateral benefits upon our whole country. Such benefits will, of course, inure more particularly to our naval and military establishments. It is necessary, for instance, in the development of a merchant marine policy, to have due regard for the existence of freightrate agreements and the desire for such reg |