MERCHANT SERVICE

Hokitika Guardian, 14 September 1931, Page 2

MERCHANT SERVICE

GLASS DISTINCTION’. TRAINING OF OFFICERS. LONDON, July 29. A speech made yesterday by Sir Burton Chadwick during a visit to the Conway training ship deserves some publicity. It will not, one imagines, 1 tied complete acceptances in tliis age. Sir Burton hoped tlie day might not be tar distant when, with, reasonable but limited exceptions, no boy would be able to reach the command of a British snip unless he had passed through -an officers’ training school. “Furtihermoie,” he continued, “I also hope that shipowners will to a much larger extent draw their lower-deck boys, both in the deck and steward departments, from the excellent material which is available to them in the numerous training establishments round our coasts.” PROFESSIONAL CLASS. I Referring to the question of officer I rank in the merchant service, he said: I “Although I would be the-last man in the world to speak in any spirit of snobbery, I do think that we must accept the doctrine of class distinction, which is so very much emphasised in our communal life. Never a day passes t in my life as a political when I do not hei y the expression 'the working class 1 or* ‘the labour class,’ and the sentiment behind these expressions has come to dominate and colour the whole of our national life, I am not for one ■ moment saying that this is wrong. T think it is right, and in my own mind, to be consistent, I apply it to my argument in regard to the officer ranks of the merchant navy, and 1 think in terms of what I will call ‘the professional class.’ LEADERSHIP. “Here is a. calling which involves the leadership of men and the giving of the word of command. These very high i responsibilities demand . character, brain, courage, and, generally, the prinI ciples that govern the life of a gentle- ! man. All the forces of government, ! charity and political life are directed, i and rightly directed, to helping the boys of what is described as the working class. None of this effort, generally speaking, is directed to the boy l of the professional class. He has to look after himself, A SCHOOL TRAINING.

"Here in the officer rank in the merchant navy is a calling which might well and fairly be'conserved for this class of hoy. Naturally one would not suggest that the door should be closed to exceptional boys from any class, but, generally speaking, that is why I hope that the day will come when no boy will he able to reach the command of a British ship unless he has passed through some sea school with the bigh standard of the splendid old Conway, “I hope and believe,” Sir Burton added, “that even to a greater extent in the future than in thei past the standard'of the merchant navy may he such that a gentleman will find in it\a service in which he will he happy and proud.”