§ Order of the Day for the Third Reading read.
§ LORD TEMPLEMOREMy Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read 3a.—(Lord Templemore.)
LORD THURLOWMy Lords, as a member of your Lordships' House who has spent many years of my life in ministering to the officers and men of the Mercantile Marine, I venture to ask your Lordships' permission to say a few words in support of this Bill. When I was sent out by the Missions to Seamen in 1901 to the Pacific Coast of North America, the conditions existing in the Mercantile Marine were very different from what they are to-day. Steam had not yet altogether ousted sail, and a great four-masted barque used to make a long and hazardous journey round Cape Horn. The greatest skill was required from the officers and men if they were to reach their destination safely, and when, after 150 or 180 days, they reached port, they were pestered by a gang of ruffians, crimps and harpies who did their utmost to bring them to ruin morally and in other ways. It was a rough school, but it produced the finest officers in the world. 110 In the Great War they played a great part, and the Royal Naval Reserve became a household word for daring, efficiency and resource. In the lean years that followed many had to face long periods of unemployment, and they bore up with characteristic courage. As a personal friend of many master mariners who were known to me long ago as apprentices, I wish to pay my tribute to these gallant men who have so nobly upheld the traditions of the great service to which they belong. I would voice their gratitude to the great companies which have already provided a pension scheme for their officers, and welcome the extension of benefits as outlined in this Bill to those officers employed by other companies who have not hitherto profited by existing arrangements. I will not touch upon the details of the Bill, as these will be more fully considered in Committee, but I respectfully commend the measure to your Lordships' approval.
§ LORD TEMPLEMOREMy Lords, if I may speak again by leave of the House, I would point out that: the noble Lord is under a slight misapprehension. The Second Reading of this Bill was taken a week ago; this is the Third Reading stage, and I shall shortly move that the Bill be passed. However, as the noble Lord is, I gather, in sympathy with the Bill, I presume he would not wish to put any Amendments down at any stage.
§ On Question, Bill read 3a, and passed, and sent to the Commons.