"CLASS DISTINCTION."

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1809, 23 July 1913, Page 4

"CLASS DISTINCTION."

AUSTRALIAN NAVAL ENGINEERS. "Class distinction" was the epithet which the Australasian Institute of Marine Engineers, at its recent meeting in Sydney, is reported to have applied to the system of restricting the appointment of engineer officers in the Royal Australian Navy to graduates who have com- j pleted a four years' course in mechanical' engineering at a University or approved School of Mines. After a perusal of the official papers dealing with the appointment of ongineer officers, the Minister for Defence (Senator Milieu) has satisfied himself that tho reproach is unwarranted. He finds himself in agreement, he says, with his predecessor in office (Senator Pearce), who, in his reply to a previous protest by tho institute, pointed out that the qualification insisted upon is purely educational, and not a class distinction. Tho requirements of the -fighting ship of the present day have created, Senator Millen points out, a 'demand for a class of men who, in addition to some measure of workshop experience, luivo undergone a training in the theory and practice of engineering. No fighting ship can be-regarded as efficient until she is provided with a highly trained professional engineering staff, whoso scientific knowledge will enable it to solve engineering and general shipboard problems Tieyond the ability of nonscientific officers.