180 
CHAPTER XI, 
Masters should be authorised to exclude from them all seamen who have 
not been in employment for three years, and that, to begin with, a seaman 
should be struck off the register automatically on the expiry of three 
years from his last discharge. We have suggested this comparatively 
long period in order to avoid undue hardship to men who, through no 
fault of their own but owing to the existing system, have been out of em- 
ployment for a long time. But the period should be steadily reduced 
year by year. The rate of reduction should depend on a constant review 
of the position, but we suggest the possibility of reducing the period by 
6 months each year-until it has reached 18 months. This would involve for 
the first year keeping seamen on the register who have not been three 
years out of employment ; during the second year the register would be 
restricted to seamen who have not been more than 2% years out of 
employment ; during the third year to those who have not been 2 years 
out of employment and from the fourth year to those who have not 
been more than 18 months unemploved. 
The Employer’s Choice. 
So far as the method of recruiting is concerned, we recommend 
that the shipping companies should have liberty of choice from men who 
have been in their employment within a specified period. We would put 
this period in the first instance at 2 years, and the aim should be to 
reduce it steadily until it has reached 9 months. Here again the 
speed of reduction must be determined by circumstances, the effect of 
each reduction being carefully watched. At the initiation of the system, 
the company would be able to select any men who had been discharged 
from one of their ships not less than 24 months previously, while after the 
necessary period of adjustment their freedom of choice would be restricted 
to men who had served on one of their ships during the last 9 months. If 
they were unable to complete a crew by the employment of such men, they 
should be required to recruit the men they needed through the shipping 
office, which would select them from those on the live register. We hope 
that this system will reduce the number of seamen with reasonable speed 
to less than twice the number that are required at sea at any time. A 
substantial margin must always remain to allow of seamen from time 
to time spending periods at their homes. The final periods of 18 months 
suggested in the preceding paragraph and 9 months suggested in 
this are both tentative ; after the scheme was in operation, experience 
might show that different periods were better, and there should always 
be a readiness, if necessity arose, to alter the periods in consultation 
with representatives of both sides. It will probably be advisable to deter- 
mine the extent of reduction of the periods for any year at least a year 
ahead, so that seamen could be warned on being discharged. 
Abolition of Licensed Brokers. 
We consider that there is now no further justification for the 
employment of licensed brokers in the recruitment of seamen. Where the 
supply of labour is considerably in excess of the demand, the necessity 
for recruiters and labour suppliers no longer exists. The powers of the