NAVAL TRAINING SCHOOL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4387, 12 April 1875, Page 2

NAVAL TRAINING SCHOOL.

We are pleased to find that the Government has taken action in the matter of the Naval Training School,' to which we recently alluded. A printed paper has been put into our hands, showing, at all events, that the Hon. Commissioner of Customs has not been content with simply putting the machinery created by the Naval Schools Act into operation, and leaving it to work how it could. He takes a deep personal interest in the matter, as may be inferred from the following letter: — Customs Department (Marine Branch), Wellington, 18th March. 1875. Sir,—! have the honor to enclose for your perusal and consideration a copy of a report which has been submitted to me by Mr. McKellar, the Acting Secretary of the Marine Branch of the Customs Department, from which you will perceive that the establishment of a Naval Training School under the Act of last session, has not been as successful as, from the necessities of the colony, I had reason to believe it would. It will be seen that, although the school at Kohimarama has been opened for nearly four months, only nineteen boys have as yet been admitted.. This circumstance would be a subject for congratulation, were it not that there is every reason to believe that there are large numbers of boys in the colony who, being uncared for, arc growing up only to bo embodied in the criminal classes, if not rescued in time by the State ; and it was with the view of providing such boys with the means of becoming useful members of society, and to instruct them in an honorable calling, that the Act was passed by the Legislature. I have no doubt as to the necessity for the Act, and that both the boys and the State will benefit by its provisions being more fully given effect to ; and I can only infer that the reason why it has not been taken advantage of to a much greater extent is because it is not sufficiently well known. Might I therefore suggest that the attention of magistrates and police authorities, especially in the larger centres of population, may be specially called to the Act.—l have, &c., William H. Reynolds. The Hon. the Minister for Justice, &c., Wellington.

The memorandum by Mr. McKellar, acting secretary for Customs, states the facts of the case pretty much as we placed them before the public in our previous article. Up to the end of February, there were only nineteen boys in the Naval Training School, although provision had been made for sixty. “This,” writes Mr. McKellar, “ appears to me “ so unsatisfactory a result of the three “ months’ operation of the Act, so alto- “ gether inadequate to the requirements “ of the colony, and to the expensive “ machinery that is in operation, that I “.deem it my duty to call your attention “to it.” He then goes on to point out the significant fact that all the committals under sections 8 and 10 of the Act, were at Auckland. No doubt there are very many uncared for lads in the centres of population throughout the colony, who might be rescued from a life of crime and made useful members of society, were the police and magistrates to carry out the beneficent intention of the Legislature. But over and above all this, which is a social question, there is a pressing necessity for training lads to man the merchant navy of New Zealand. At the present time, our large fleet of colonial vessels are manned by British and foreign seamen, few of the number having been bora or brought up in the colony. With its extensive seaboard and numerous harbors, New Zealand must become a great maritime country ;—indeed, it is by no means insignificant at the present time, while wo may look forward to a rapid increase in tonnage and a proportionate demand for crews to man the ships. In a mere money point of view, therefore, the training of lads to a knowledge of a seafaring life, is an excellent investment for the colony. We trust, therefore, that magistrates and others charged with the administration .of the Naval Training Schools Act, 1874, will not fail to give prompt effect to its salutary provisions.. There are several practical suggestions in Mr. McKei.lar’s memorandum, which we reprint in this place as an indication to Justices of the Peace as to how they should act in certain cases. He writes

Possibly the name may have been misunderstood, and deterred some parents and guardians from availing themselves of the 10th section. The term “Naval Training School” has, I know, by some been thought to moan a place for training boys for her Majesty’s navy ; it would bo well to explain that the intention is to train boys for, and to apprentice them when fit. to the mercantile marine of the colony. Magistrates should bear this in mind when making committals under the Bth to the 10th sections, and should make careful inquiry in each case as to the fitness of the boy for training for sea-life (one Instance has already occurred in which a boy was committed at the parents’ request, whoso expressed object was to be relieved of temporary care of the boy, and to k havc him educated at Government expense without the least intention of having him sent to sea). When magistrates are committing under the 10th section, it would be well that they should examine into the parents’ or guardians’ ability to pay a contribution towards the expense of the boy’s maintenance and training, and make order accordingly, without waiting for formal complaint from manager of the school. The training of a boy for a seafaring life cannot well be done under two (2) years. \ knowledge of this may bo useful to magistrates when exercising the discretion given to them to determine the time for which a boy shall be committed (in the case above referred to the boy was committed for one year only). To prevent the introduction into the school of infectious or contagious diseases, I think that magistrates might be requested to have each boy examined by a medical man, before commitment, and be authorised to pay a fee for the same.

How far these suggestions have been acted on by the Minister of Justice we are not in a position to say, but wo are confident that the subject will have the most earnest attention of the Government.