New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4270, 26 November 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1874.

On Monday we referred to the establishment of the Naval Training School by the Government, as a work of the greatest practical value to the colony. Out of it is certain to grow results of very great a ...» ivuuunuia ui‘ uiiamaoie institutions, by relieving them of the charge of large numbers of boys who would otherwise be a burden upon their hands, or be turned out on the world at too early an age to do any good fur themselves. Parents of refractory lads, who are unable to manage them, may have them placed in the Naval Training School, where they will be brought under strict discipline, and taught the advantage of subordination and useful labor. In this place, however, it may not be uninteresting to refer to what has been done by the Imperial Parliament, in the same direction. We have before us the final report of the Royal Commission on unseaworthy ships, appointed in consequence of Mr. Plimsoll’s agitation. In this report, under the caption “ Under-manning,” Section VI., we find the following paragraphs, which are quite as applicable to the condition of merchant seamen in the Colonies a's in the United Kingdom : “The growth of trade, and the conse- ‘ ‘ quent additional opportunities for em “ ployment on shore, as well as at sea, ‘ ‘ have increased the difficulty of obtain- “ ing able seamen. The wages of “seamen have risen largely within the “ last few years, but yet shipowners com- “ plain that they are often compelled to “ take such men as present themselves, “ of whom many prove to be incompe- “ tent to discharge properly the duties of “ seamen. The ignorance and incapacity “ of these men throw additional work on “ the good seamen, cause dissatisfaction “in the ship, and enhance the dangers “ of navigation.” “ The general tendency in the evi- “ dence, however, leads to the conclusion ‘ ‘ that there is a deficiency of British able “ seamen; captains of merchant ships “ could not, it is said, man their ships “ without Swedes, Norwegians, and Las- “ cars. The rating of able seaman is “ often given without sufficient considera- “ tion by masters of merchant vessels. “ The British seamen at the present “ time are not, it is said, wanting in olo- ‘ ‘ mentary education. It is a rare excep- “ lion when they cannet write; but “ nevertheless the. men do not always “ seem to have received the benefits “ which are commonly supposed to belong to education in early life. “ They are often deficient in thrift, in “ sobriety, in discipline, and in that self- “ control which education is intended to “promote.” The Royal Commissioners then proceed to set out the Acts which the Imperial Parliament passed “ to secure the welfare “ of the sailor,” but which have entirely failed of their object because they do not, like the New Zealand' Naval Training School Act, go to the root of the matter, take the' men when they are young, and give them the requisite training to fit them for the duties of active life. Again tlxo Royal Commission report, under the head of “ Compulsory Apprenticeship,” Section VIII. “ In the report on Training the Navy, “in the year 1859, training ships were “ proposed to bo maintained at the “ public expense. The cost of every “ boy so trained was estimated at £25 a “ year. This sum would be increased by “the additional cost of sailing tenders, “ and, without this preparation for a sea- “ life, shipowners would not so readily “ take the boys. “The system of apprenticeship un- “ doubtedly affords the best means of “ training boys for a service in which “ fitness can only bo acquired during “ early life, and if shipowners are wil- “ ling to contribute as suggested above,

“ [that every vessel above 100 tons “ register, whether propelled by sail or “ steam, should be required to carry ap- “ prentices proportioned to her tonnage, “ or to pay a small contribution, say 6d. “ per ton register, to be applied towards the maintenance of training ships in “ all the principal ports of the United “ Kingdom,] it would, in our opinion, be “a wise policy for the Government to “ aid these Industrial Schools of the “ Mercantile Marine.”

The Royal Commissioners further report that the establishment of schools for training seamen, on whose capacity the safety of life and property almost entirely depends, must rest with the owners of ships. If they do not voluntarily tax themselves, the State will not interfere, and “those who go down to “ the deep in ships, who do business in “ great waters,” are to be left to the tender mercy of a class whose avarice is so cruel as to leave them without a single tinge of pity for those that trust themselves and their fortunes to rotten, ill-found, and illmanned ships. Again, we say, New Zealand has set the mother country a noble example, by making provision for training orphan and destitute boys to the calling of the sea. It is not creditable to the Royal Commission to make no specific recommendation on the subject, beyond remarking that were boys trained for the Mercantile Marine, ‘ 1 the “ sailers and shipowners would be bene- “ fited, while many sources of danger to “the merchant service would be di- “ minished or removed,” seeing that in the same report, they state that “ a “ summary of official inquiries into “ wrecks and casualties, excluding colli- “ sions, shows that from the year 185 G to “ 1872 inclusive, a period of seventeen “ years, while sixty ships were known to “ have been lost from defects in the “ vessel or in stowage, 711 ships were “ lost from neglect or bad navigation.” In conclusion, let us add the hope that the New Zealand Naval Training School just established may become worthy of the colony.