THE DIFFERENCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 July 1929, Page 7

THE DIFFERENCE.

AA r ORDS OF VICE-ADMIRAL EVANS. Vice-Admiral Edward R. G. R. Evans, C. 8., D. 5.0., R.N., who was recently appointed to the, command of the Australian branch of the British Navy, is an author of parts. Among his books are “South with Scott” “Keeping the Seas,” and a first-class hook for boys entitled “The Adventures of Peter.” . The latter hook, told in the simplest language, is the adventure of a lad, who seeks the sea as a career, and finds it is still sufficiently adventurous despite the advance of science. The hook is a judicious mixture of fact and fiction. Peter is. at one time taken prisoner by the German warship Dresden, while a member of the crew of the Kestrel, a sailing vessel bound from AA r estport (N.Z.) with coal for a port in Chile. As a prisoner an parole he sees the battle of Coroncl fought and won by the Germans, and also goes through the Ealklands action, and finally sees the last of the , German overseas squadron battered by H.At.S. Glasgow at the Juan Fernandez group of islands off South America. There is one passage in, the book that may be apropos of a current event, at the same time disclosing the mind of Vice-Admiral Evans as to certain aspects of administration of the British Admiralty. In the novel, Peter confesses he is English, and is hailed before Admiral Von Spec, oi the Scharnhorst. After placing the lad under the control of the men, with whom lie has been very good friends, the Admiral is made to say:

“Take him away then. But stop— I want you to remember this—don’t blackguard us Germans when you get back to your own counti'y’. A\ T e have our faults' and wo have our. views. Our navy has been built very much on the lines of your own. AVe have not your great sea heritage, and our sea traditions are practically non-ex-istent when compared with those of Great Britain. We are making our naval history now, and I hope and believe that the German Navy will have its own bright pages, just as you have yours. War is a dreadful thing, hut I am one of those people who believe in it. It was bound to c;ome, this clash of arms, and my school of thought believes in a resort to arms as ft final settlement to great international questions. “To-dav there is too much being done for the rotter, as . you call him, and not enough done for the fit. AVhv do you English penalise your best men, and do everything for your worst? That is the difference between our nations. AVe tread down our 'idlers aild scallnwaps, and we reward our workers. You seem to reward your lazy, good-for-nothing kind, and you only use your better men to suit you, and then throw them aside.” Such sentiments from one who is now a vice-admiral, are interesting.