THE AMOKURA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 590, 19 August 1909, Page 9

THE AMOKURA.

. t , 1 ■ —♦ — TRAINING FUTURE; SEAMEN. ' ) At the present time tho Government 1 train-; ing ship .Amokura is undergoing a thorough overhaul preparatory to putting to sen. again for the first of the 'summer cruises. The topmasts were sent up last week, the yards will shortly bo in' place, and probably the. vesssl will be ploughing, the-deep again towards tho end of next- mo.ith. Just now - she lies at anchor off the Thorndon Esplanade, and when a Dominion representative paid a visit to her a crew of eight, in charge, of a' petty officer, showed themselves'skilful boatmen, and, though there'wis a high wind blowing, the journey to' and from, the ship was accomplished without inconvenience to pa.ssongcrs. Tho cadets get an nbtindancfi of boat drill while in Wellington, aud the system adopted-by. Commander Hooper appears to work'well towards, tho at-, tainmeut of proficiency. The petty officer' in charge is, held responsible for the safety of the boat and ;its gear, and for the conduct of; his crew, and, as any mishap would mean loss of marks and prejudice-to promotion of tho«e concerned,- the system works' -well, 'and - it .is stated that, after tho usual instruction, 'the boys caa hnndlo a boat'safely in all weather, and, in fact,- ar£ niore handy in this rcspect than, the uslial run of seamen.' ■ The system of discipline throughout the ship seems to result in tho petty Officers- having ; good'control over their crews. The' instruction' is so' arranged that ono squad of bays il'ill bo told off for the boats lor the wnole'dayv wbilo another-', squad is engaged in splicing, and knotting, another in studying the, compass, ..signalling, steering, so on. ; At tho end- of specified periods examinations in tho-different branches are held, and tho marks gained arc, recorded in a book It opt .by tho- conimandir, tind just how tho cadets hiivo progressed is thus seen, ' '. , Interesting, too, is the Open J .List,' which keeps a.check oii,-.the conduct .of the fifty odd ■' cadets, r This somewhat reminds' duo of those" pithy sentences'in ' a lower-school grammar,' .which'.faithfully recorded, incidents in.; tlio career of -ii -person named" John, who"', was in different pag»s "a good boy,", or "more diligent than his brother James."., The. ..(Jpen List , shows, that all cadets entering tho ship are placed .in Class 2, and, at tho end of'six mouths, they, may advance to .Class 1. Somo have advanced to Class' 1, and remained there, but others have retrograded to Classes,.B and i for breaches of the discipline. One very interesting lad,' after going back to Class 4, steadily, worked his way up to Class* 1, .but the effort; was'.evidently 100 much for him,' : aiid thodist shows him back in Class 4 again; ■ Tho disadvantage of. beiiig. in this lower class becomes apparent at leave-time,- when certain ■ privilege-, are-curtailed, ..while.'tho offences at the. time are. met .with mild punishment. It docs, not mean; however, that because a lad is in Class 4 ho is not making good headway at his work. It may simply mean that he is '.a "difficult' case," and on this account the In< struction Book'must be rend, along with tho Open List. The latter inaHes for good discipline, and whilo it cannot prevent the cadets fro;n smearing their hands with pitch and tar . it keeps, the.-crowded 'ship wonderfully spick and spai|. 'Quite a number havo. already been ' drafted from the Amokura to merchant. ves- - sels, and to the Navy, and-good reports havo beeii. hoard of .them. , One thing that appears to bo locking is school instruction. A fourth-standard certificate is required of those joining, but no further schooling- is given them, as-there, is practically no room for it aboard ship. Probably something will'be done '-in this.respect later on. ' '