Wrrutx the past few days Shanghai has had an opportunity of seeing what regular training and dise: plins can make of the British sailor who wears the blue jacket, How long must we wait before such another display shall be possible from our mercantile marine? That is a question which, in one form and another, is troubling many a patriotic Briton As things are, the te. -deney seems 10 be for the manning of British ships to communication Sir George harks ok 10a proposal of Mr. Hofmeyr in 1887 that two per cent only should be imposed as a surcharge on. all foreign goods discharged at all Imperial ports, the proceeds to form a fund with special reference to the needs of the Navy. But the oblections to any such scheme are recognised, and to cut the matter short, Sir George shows plainly that, as a means either of adding to naval strength, or of strengthening the Empire's defences, the sum thus raised would not be of much value. On the other hand if it were devoted to " strengthening the maritime communications of the Empire, most of the difficulties will be found to disappear,"
Sir George proposes to raice £4,600,000 anonolly, not by a two per cent but by a one per cent tax on the goods named, Having this money, it must, he says, "be confined to the improvement of British-owned steamship services forming veritable lines of communication between the great members of the Empire... The assistance might take the form of subsidies, bounties, or ivans at low interest, subject t" conditions of speed, tonnage, periodicity, ace"mmodation, and the employment of British subjects." The italics are ours.
An Imperial Council of fifteen members 1s recommended, India and the Colonies contributing eleven to the home four. Sw George combats anti-subsidy opinions on the ground that disjointed
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.