SEAMEN IN EMBRYO

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1913, Page 10

SEAMEN IN EMBRYO

UNSUITABILITY OF THE AMOKURA IMPROVED SCHEME PROPOSED IMPORTANCE OF A SHORE STATION. (By N.R.) Times have changed apace, and this is a quaint age. Were the shade of Mr. Chucks the boatswain, or even Peter Simple himself, to return and wander round the quays and waterfronts he would Hot only be appalled at Ihe cmoke-grimed colliers and all the hundred and one unsavoury incidentals to a modern port, but he would perhaps wonder at his prototype of the present day. Safe it is to say that Marryatfc. the proud creator of these two delightful characters, never in hia wildest fancies dreamed ofa time when British youth would turn up its collective nose at the idea of going to sea. But this time?, if it has not already c^nie, ie presumably near at hand." And there is a moderately strong caae for the defence. The days of the taller With its bellying canvas and snapping ropes, the spotless decks, the port 3 once little known, but greatly desired — these are gone. Come« the steamship; prosaic, methodical, "tied to certainties ; the grimy stokehold, the regular calls at set, ports, and the romance vanishes. In Simple's day there were ports' next door almost to Fairy land ; now we read the politics of such places at our breakfast tables, and learn of the fall of Ministers and the making of Cabinets twenty-four hours after such events take place. Then what is to be done, for something must be done, and men a.nd boys are even wanted to run the unromantic turbine-driven liner and the squat little steam trawler? .In March, ,1907, the New Zealand Government sowed the seeds of a scheme which was destined to take good root and flourish. Now, however, has come the time for transplanting, for the branches need much room. In the year in question a small vessel, then the Sparrow, H.M.S., a wooden threemasted gunboat, was taken over by the Dominion authorities, renamed the Amokura, repainted white, and recommissioned with a staff of officers and fourteen boys ! , Now 'there -"are fifty-three cadets on board, and in the six years the vessel , has been in commission two hundred and twenty-one boys have trod the decks. Out of this number one hundred and forty-one havo been placed qn sea-going ship*, twelve have joined the King's Navy, and of this latter number two are serving' on warships in Imperial waters. Surely, then, the little vessel has justified its existence and the staff has made good. The Amokura for six years has been doing sentry duty round the castaway depots at the Bounty Islands, the Auckland Islands, the . Snares, the Kermadecs, and the Antipodes, and sho r has never in any of those years been' less than six months. o,ut of the twelve at sea. Another thing worth noting : Although she has travelled through the stormiest latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, there never has been a man at the wheel. Two of the boys havef guided her on every mile of her course. AN UNSUITABLE CRAFT. j These results, have been obtained under the greatest difficulty, for the vessel, is absolutely unsuitable. If someone had been sent out to choose a ship that was to be vfsed to break a set of youths of all idea of following the sea, then he could hardly hav<s made a better choice. The reasons are ndt far to seek. In the first place she is costly to run, secondly, she is a bad sea boat, and thirdly her complement has altogether outgrown her capacity. Picture to yourself fifty growing boj's quartered all the year round on a ship of this size. They have no schoolroom? no gymnasium, no reading-room ; in fact, they have just the ship, and the ship's duties are all that they have to keep them busy. It may be very useful for a boy to learn how to wield a paint brush or how to polish a copper pan, but it does not comprise the essence of seamanship. Sometimes a boy has nothing to do for a week but paint ship and the result is inevitable. Of course, these things must be done ; the ' ship must be painted, and pots must be burnished, but there is an alternative. A SHORE DEPOT. For the twelve months ending 31st March, 1912, the Amokura's working expenses amounted to no less a sum than £6725. For repairs £351 was spent, and the cost of a store and ' slip brought the total up to £7576 odd. In return for this some 47 boys left, the ship after undergoing training in those twelve months. Also, of course. , the ship has been useful in ♦inspecting the castaway depots. The question naturally arises : Is the output justifying such an expenditure of the taxpayers' money, and an unbiased critic must have at least grave doubts. What is done at Home '! Every training ship has a shore depot where the lads are first broken in. Instead of going direct on to the vessel they are drafted from their homes to this depot, and there they are initiated. The smallest of the shore stations has its playing field, its schoolrooms, and its reading and writing rooms. There is r 'a gymnasium and there are boats in which the boys may be instructed in the elements of their i-Tofes'sion. It is true that the boys on the Amokura go to school. "The Department has purchased the building on the Thorndon Esplanade which was formerly used by the Thorndon Yacht Club. The ground floor will be used as a store room and the upper floor for a school loom for the boys, in which they will be taught during the winter months by teachers from the Technical School in subjects which are specially seleded as being of value to them in after liie at sea.." So says the annual report of the Marine Department for the year 191142. On the face of this it is stated by those who kno.v that there are boys on the ship who should be receiving schooling all the year, round in subjects such as ai •< given in the ordinary State school curriculum. Were the idea of the shore depot to be put in force then such youths, admittedly backward, could be taught their "three R's" throughout the year. , There are no facilities on board for physical drill. At a depot the lads could be given gymnastic exercises and outdoor games at a sei period every day. Afc present their only amusements are found time for during afternoon, leave, for they arc not allowed leave at night time, They could be taken to places of amusement once in a while, under supervision, and though perhaps it is not quite evident «it first sight, this is con sidered a most necessary corrollary of their tintion. As every schoolmaster knows, it is infinitely preferable that boys should have their leisure time occupied, as one might say, compulsorily. In other Words, leisure is of no use to these boys if it is merely spent as leisure. It is much better that a choice of amusements be made for them than that they should waste; their time in idleness. 'J'lie value of a jjiaying held c.it hf»rdly ha overestimated, uutl the maxim W v cclc&ratgil avldicr uucut the jilit^iiig

fields of rnglanri and a ceitaiii batlle is worth emphasising. The boys would, it is quite evident, enter into games with the greatest zest, and they might easily find a place in local athletic competitions. This would help to liven up their competitive faculties ; it would make them harder, fairer, and more chivahous, at small cost. Thus might, they be gradually weaned to a love of the sea. The contrast is obvious. As it is at present we have a youth, perhaps raw aud somewhat homely, coming straight from shore to work now and unpleasantly strange. He is at once dumped down amongst fifty other youths who have passed the embryo stage, and a.re consequently entirely different in temperament, and oven physique. The first flay is perhaps passed at sea, and our new cadet is put to washing decks just at the time when he feels as if he has an absolute vacuum^ where his jumper meets his trousers. And so on, until one Cannot help realising that this boy's first introduction to "a life on the ocean wave" is far from a cheerful one. There are people who would say that this is as it should be ; that it would tend to make a mollycoddle instead of an A.B. if things were diffei^nt. There is a big "but;" however, anil this is it : Xone of these boys have to spend their days on the sea ; they are not tied to it for life, and once the outlook is made to appear at all unsavoury or hopeless, then it i 3 easy fo^' a boy to make a break for the open. It is the business of those responsible for the training of these cadets to hold out some inducement for the boys to continue in the calling they have chosen, and this, experience has proved, can only be done by a gradual breaking in. After long years of study of the genus boy, the specialists at Home have e\olyed a theory which piactice ,has proved is. very near perfect. It can be summarised quite shortly, and the essence of the scheme is the shore depot. The boys are sent there for a certain period (six months might be found suitable in New Zealand), and there they get an introduction to the life they are afterwards to lead. When opportunity in the shape of a spell of fine weather offers, a tor-pedo-boat or a destroyer is placed at the disposal of their masters, and they are taken for a sea run. The most alluring side is shown them first, and later, when the more unpleasant features come uppermost, as they inevitably .will, they are immune to them. It has been proved that by this means the number of those who afterwards back out is reduced td a negligible fraction. SCHEME PRACTICABLE HERE. Then -coiiies the question ai to the local application of this system. Those who understand such matters say emphatically that it is perfectly practicable and highly desirable. The result of its inception would be apparent almost immediately. The^ work would be done with greater facility, and at greatly reduced cost. Of course, we have not as yet the torpedo boats to act as tenders, but there is no reason why the Amokura could not be used for this purpose. Fewer, far fewer, boys would have to go on her at once. As it is. this vessel is tied up all the winter at her moorings, and the boys are confined to the 6hip under most uninteresting conditions. During these months, were the depot scheme adopted, they could be kept in their barvacks on shore, where at lepsb they would have room to stretch themselves. In the summer months they could bo sent to sea agajn in drafts— those left on shore each time would be ( far from idle. A SITE. There is even a site handy at either Shelly Bay or Mahanga Bay, -where Government land is lying idle. There is some flat land and more could be reclaimed at little expense. The place would be far enough away to keep the boys out of town except when it was thought fit to take them in on leave, and yet not £o far that they would be absolutely isolated. There is a wharf handy, which is very little need at present, and an outlay almost inconsiderable would see the whole scheme established. ANOTHER ASPECT. There is yet another point of view ■which particularly applies in the colonies. There is coming a time, perhaps, Avhen New Zealand will have to run a pocket-edition navy of its own, and men will be needed to man these ships. They would need to be efficiently trained and of good physique, and boys ,wlio have gone through such a course would bo ideal material for the building up of a type of handy ma,n, self-reliant, and imbued with a good sense of initiative.