House of Commons
30th March 1903

  MP Mr Kearley (Devonport) referring to a committee set-up to look into the racketeering of the naval canteen system.

  The recommendation of the Committee was hardly worth considering seriously. It was that in future the commanding officer should have the selection of the canteen system to be employed; that was to say, whether it was to be the co-operative system or what was called the tenant system. The commanding officer was also to have the selection of the tradesmen who were to supply the canteen. In another part of the Report it was mentioned that officers had the greatest objection to running these canteens, they had not the necessary training, and he did not think that particular recommendation would lead to much reform. He doubted whether any commanding officer would be able, single-handed, to stop the system of bribery and corruption which prevailed. He had a small bundle of letters in his hand, written not to him directly, but to the editor of a service paper, from fifty-six ships in commission, and from every station where the Navy went, complaining of this vile system of blackmailing and robbery. He thought these were not too strong terms to use. He was not going to attempt to shield the men who did the blackmailing. He did not say that it took place on every ship. He was perfectly willing to hand the letters to the Admiralty if they treated them confidentially and did not bring the men to book for complaining. He had classified the articles referred to, and had taken only those of daily consumption.

  He had put against them what would be a fair price for the men to pay on 11shore at home ports.

  The canteen price for:

    Sugar was 3d. to 6d. per lb. against 1½d.
    Cheese, 1s. to 1s. 4d. per lb. against 7d.
    Tea (which was free from duty on board His Majesty's ships) 1s. 8d. to 1s. 10d. per lb. against 10d.
    Tinned salmon, 9d. to 11d. per tin against 5d.
    Tinned herrings, 6½d. to 8d. per tin against 4d.
    Rice, 3d. to 5d. per lb. against 1½d.
    Currants, 8d. to 11½d. per lb. against 3d.
    Tapioca, 5d. to 6½d. per lb. against 2½d.
    Peel, 9d. to 1s. 7d. per lb. against 4d.
    Raisins, 7d. to 9d. per lb. against 3¼d.
    Sunlight soap, 1s. to 1s. 1½d. per box against 7½d.
    Quaker oats, 10d. to 11¼d. per lb. against 5½d.
    Jams, 2½d. per tin against 1d.

  He had extracted these prices paid on board ship from the letters. He would read some extracts from the letters. From the Illustrious in the Mediterranean I may state that there has been a lot of trouble caused over the canteen of late aboard  here. I really cannot side with the men for doing what they did. Their bills were so excessive they refused to pay them. Of course they were had over the coals for this, and eventually the money stopped out of their pay, and then they threw a lot of valuable service gear overboard because they had to pay. I hope that something will be done towards clearing such robbers out of His Majesty's ships. From the Centurion, Portsmouth Prices charged are too great according to the ship's company's idea,and the goods that we had were of the most inferior quality and far dearer than bumboat prices anywhere in China or Japan. The ship's company have always been under the impression that the canteen was not properly managed; they had a new canteen committee every quarter—one for each branch; papers were sent round to each mess at the end of each quarter, but the lower deck did not even know who the majority of the votes were for, as it was never put on the canteen notice board. From the Cruiser, Naples, Maltese canteens are nearly all alike as regards the management of them and the way they are conducted; different prices for different ratings; English weights to-day and Maltese weights to-morrow; selling goods on board at double the price they can be procured ashore, are a few of the failings of the Maltese bumboat system. Now our canteen is nothing better than the general run of them, if it is not worse. Our commanding officer told us when we were in Malta that if we were not satisfied with this canteen we could have another one.