OUR FIGHTING SEAMEN.

Dominion, Issue 1337, 15 January 1912, Page 6

OUR FIGHTING SEAMEN.

DEMOCRACY AND DISCIPLINE. INTERESTING OPINIONS. Sir. Lionel Yoxlcy is au ex-naval blu«jacket, who has loft tlio navy" for a "slipro billet" as editor of tho naval periodical "The J?lcct." Ho is also the author of several hooks dealing with lifo in tho navy from tho lower-duck point of new. He is a fluent-writer and a vig. orous critic of the methods by'which ships are rim ami naval crews are managed, But lie is a terrible grumbler. Ho is the author of a new book entitled "Our Fighting Seamen," the purport of which is to induce .tho belief that tho bluejackets of the King's ships ar6 habitually subjected to severe punishment for non-existent offences, and that a "pseudodiscipline" is enforced which produces grievous and serious discontent among the men who aro tlia backbone of Britain's fighting force. In his opening pages he quotes a speech delivered in South Australia by Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet, Governor of that State, ill tho course of which the Admiral said:—"The personnel is the most important point in a fleet, and the education and training and discipline of the personnel aro tho whole end-nil and be-all of a navy. . When the crisis comes, when the hour of trial arrives, the slight difference which only tho eye of an export can dotect is sufircicnt to send one ship to tho bottom in I ten minutes, and leave tho other untouched." The author devotes about three-fourths of a substantial volume to relating tho hardships and cruelties endured by British naval ecamen' in past centuries, and ho argues that, though corporal punishment lias been abolished in the Navy, and the conditions of service have been greatly improved, stall punishments for nominal offences aro so frequent and so humiliating that on tho battleships and cruisers especially tho disaffection on the lower deck is so serious as to endanger the efficiency of tho ship.' He accuses the captains of somo of tho big ships of keeping two sets of "punishment books," a falsified on© for production to tho Admiralty, and a correct one for their own information. After giving a number of specific instances, the author writes:— "The lower deck is dissatisfied, and the, disaffection will and must grow year byyear as the intelligence of ; tho lowerdeck increases. But this is not on account of Socialism, but because naval discipline has the same foundation today, when our ships of war aro manned with tho pick of the nation, as when they .were manned from prison hulks and with the help of the press gang." He goes on to say:—"Strict discipline in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred spells petty tyranny,' and these, open signs of disaffection, instead of being put down to tho growth of Socialism, should be accepted for what they are—storm signals of wrong conditions. The nation will do well to grasp tho simple truth, viz., that the personnel of the Navy has so completely changed that it is quite oat of touch and out of sympathy with naval laws." Mr. Yexley suggests that in time of war a naval mutiny might; result unless the existing conditions aro altered. Ho writes:—".We go ou counting up our Dreadnoughts year by year, and imagine that as long as we have a superiority in numbers we aro quite safe; yet at least one-sixth of our 6hips aro afflicted with that typo of discipline which, as Admiral Sir D. H. Bosanquet says, "is sufficient when tho crisis comes to take thorn to the bottom in 10 minutes."' These aro serious statements: 'The public would like to know whether there is any substantial truth in them, or whether they represent merely tho bilious outpourings of a chronic grumbler. Tho question of naval discipline, which tho author deals with in this volume, is. ono that is likely to emerge into over-' mastering importance in Australia with/ the growth of tho Australian naval unit, 1 which is shortly to be increased by the addition of a battleship cruiser and: several smaller cruisers and destroyers." Honco tho statements made by Mr. Ycx■ley may well bo laid to heart by the administrators of tho Australian naval . forces. iWhat standard of naval discipline will bo laid down, and how will it h,o enforced? It is perfectly plain that the costliest ships and appliances for making war will bo, worse than useless in time of emergency unless tho crows are welldisciplined and well-trained for the performance of their duties. Whether on adequate standard of discipline con 1.8 maintained in tho Australian naval forces under existing political conditions is a subject upon which somo light is thrown by tho author of this volume, who id- ' gards "continual questioning in Parliament", as "a valuablo safety-valve." There aro those who will fear that "continual questioning in Parliament," it introduced in connection with matters' ot discipline on board the ships of tho Australian naval unit, will bo anything tut advantageous to tho efficiency of the service. The problem of how to reconcile democracy with discipline is ono that is likely to tost tho capacity of tho administrators of the Australian naval forces ,ta tho utmost. There is reason to supposo that the l difficulty has manifested itself in an acuto form in tho French navy. On tho subject of the enlargement .of tho area of selection for cadets at (ho Royal Naval College, Osborno, and also on the subject of promotions from tho lower deck to tho corps of officers, Mr. Yexley is very emphatic. Already in other quarters, notably'in "Tho Times," it has been argued that tho opportunity of receiving training at tho Royal Naval College should bo made availablo free i-i, cost,'' on tho ground that tho existing changes narrow tho area of selection against tho interests of efficiency. Thig book shows that tho udvanced political thought of the day is making its influence felt even in tho Royal Navy. Whother that influence will bo for good or ill— - who can say?—" Sydney Daily Telegraph."