The Royal Navy.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 57, 12 April 1912, Page 5

The Royal Navy.

4 ._ By AN EX-MUGKO.

Seeing that the- Navy I/oag-ue is trying to popularise this branch of tho service, it may be as wvll to let our boys know what they an> taking on in joining tiiis service. Wβ will suppose tho hoy, having Ihmjii attracted by the many pretty pictures painted by those dear old ladies, who would probably die it' thoy ktK>w tlic truth about the horrible existence some oi these boys lead, outers a training ship at the age of 15. Brought up in a homo whor<? ho •has probably never boen called upon to mend his own nocks, or oven sew i button on lor himself, ho early discovers that a "life ou th« ocean wave" is not all it liai Seen cracked up to be. Now a sailor is not S'vorri in like, a soldier —he simply signs a paper U> the effect tJiat he solemnly promises to servo Ins most gracious Majesty Kini: George ;nr whoever happens to hav>j that l)illot at the tune he joins) for the term of !i yeais, counting from his eighteenth b.iruiiay (.which ought bo occur on the Ist uf April), three years after joining. Of oonr.se, ho has been medically examined and found tit—sft. high, ;!Oin. round the ehe-st, and sound in wind and limb. Upon joining the training 3hip the boy is taken before blie captain, and lie becomes a second-class boy. My ex-pe-rienoe the very first day on the training ship Lien at Devonport, England, convince mc 1 wa3 a first-class idiot. At 11 o'clock in the- forenoon the bugle sounded for punishine-at, and all the boys assembled on the quarter-deck to witness this. There wore 25 boys to be caned and two to bo birehod. The boys were leg-roped and hand-roped across a gun. They 'xuild not move, and the part they sat ou was stretched as tight as a drum. A ship's policenian then took a six-foot cane, an inch thick, arid '"laid" into the boys, some six cuts, some- trp to twelve — twelve cuts at a time being the maximum. 1 have seen the lower portion of theso boys' backs aa black as the blackest ink. and they can very seldom sit easy for weeks after. I thought the lirst time I witiies,*vi this that I had never seen such cowardly actions on the part of men in my life; and altbougfl one bocome»s callous, I am still of tho opinion that men who would tlirush boys like this should suiter the same hrreitnient. They seldom kirouk tho devil out of tho boys, but they knock ten thousand demons into them, amd make tho other boys whining, cowardly beings who are re-ady to sell their very souls to avoid this degradation. The birching is worse punishment again. Although it does not bruiso the person so much, generally speaking, it splits tho flesh, and by bleeding prevents the extreme stiffness caused by the cane. The cat has been abolished in. the Navy, and whoa men become more humane the birch and long cane will go also. But, then, boys have no feelings; ask tho men if they have.

IJegiii'n.ing his naval novitiate as a second-class boy, the lad is credited with sd. a day wages if h<. , is goo<i. Hβ is given a kit u< cloUics, slop-made, chance whether they (it; and I well roiPomlxT tJi: , comments of t/ho boy who joinod with mo when tho purser iltuiy him n p;u'r of bluelier booh; t!i;it they call "Jnill-boots" in the service. "Great scot!" said this ooekney boy : "if that's half-boots, how much leuiiier would they wamfc to maki; a v.-!i«le pair?" With the donning of tho uniform, the hoy's troubles lw>gin ! lie has to appear each morning in a fairly" , clean duck suit, clean on twien a week ; and he iinds his first set-back when ho tries to wash those duck sui'-s (of canvas). They are Jiard; and as he has only a limited amoiuit of water, six boys to a tub, his first suit cO'inos out a piebald, and ho v/i.-dies— oli, how he. wishes —he wort , homo :ind mother could do Lhn Vs<\ i owover, is second nature, and eventually ha becomes uswl to it, but I don't believe he ever enjoys it. And when mother points out that she has done it for years, he pities her, but at the same time remembers that she has many little advantages that he is denied —an abundance of water, a wringer, hot water, a boiler, and blue bags. None of tJiese for tho boys, but they have to have thorn clean and white just tJie same. Tihe boy attends lessons in seamanship, and learns to set up his own hammock first, generally having a very uncomfortable bed for the first month on account of the hammock being badly slung. He will probably remember for years the first attempt to get into his hammock; he generally jumps in one side and rolls out the oilier. He is given a Jioj-seJiair bed, one blanket, no pillow and a long piece of rope. The bed, of course, is put in the hammock, he uses his clothes for a pillow, and tries to forget his troubles in sleep. Oh, that wretched first night. If tho truth wore told, you would probably hear that nearly all the boys cry that first night, having realised they have made asses of themselves in joining his Imperial Majesty's Navy; and although later on tJiey settle down to it, there is hardly a man in tfhe service but what would teavc to-morrow if he could. They all realise they are nothing more nor less than slaves, and although tho ordinary Jack Tar won't "wliine" to the public, he'd give something to be able to leave. (To bo continued.)