EXTRAORDINARILY APT

Hokitika Guardian, 3 October 1931, Page 6

EXTRAORDINARILY APT

COLONIALS IN NAVY. NEW ZEALANDERS DO WELL Forking their way up. It is sometimes said that routine and discipline are irksome to a New Zealander; hut the experience of the Navy proves definitely that this is not the case. Youths from this Dominion have shown that they are extraot’dinily apt in adapting tnemselves to the conditions they meet there.

They are keen and quick to learn. In. a field gun crew they have learned in a.week what would occupy a class in England for three weeks or a month.

“The New Zealander, as much as anybody eles in the world, realises that no bio- concern can be run without strict attention to detail,” says one observer. ‘“Absolute, obedience to orders is essential, and there must lie a feeling that all are working to a common end. What that common end really amounts to is to produce ratings of high moral, of good professional knowledge, and with the ability to maintain the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy at a tip-top standard.” '

With the British Navy as small as it is to-day every officer and man has to exert himself to the utmost in his endeavour to produce a highly-efficient Unit, to. which eacli member of the ship’s company is responsible for a small part. A mistake by one man can spoil the work of a ship on vital occasions.

New Zealanders are now filling with success several of the higher positions in the Navy. After a period of early training here they have gone Home for advanced courses in gun and torpedo instruction and they have come back to join up with the cruisers Diomede, Dunedin or the Philomel. While at Home they have served for a time in the Royal Navy. Many of those who were recruited in the early years of the New Zealand Division are now married. Some of the English officers and ratings who have come out for service have married New Zealand girls, and some, desiring to make their permanent homes here, have been transferred to the New Zealand Division for the balance of their service. They find their economic position somewhat changed, and all remark upon the higher rents; but certain articles like meat and butter are cheaper.

An officer who had come out here this year referred to New Zealand meat and butter as “extraordinarily good,’’ and supported his remark by evidence that be had gained considerably m freight.

Much care is used by the Admiralty authorities in selecting men for service in the New Zealand Division; and the people of this Dominion do their part by giving the naval men a generous welcome into their homes.