THE AMERICAN FLEET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 203, 17 August 1908, Page 2

THE AMERICAN FLEET.

DEPARTURE OF XUE SdllPS.

By Telegraph.—l'ress Association. Auckland, Saturday. The American battleships lifted anchor at 8.15 this morning. They were followed by a number of cx'cursio.i steamers, crowded with sight-seers. The shores ami hills round the port were thickly lined willi spectators. The battleships steamed slowly down the. channel in one long line. The morning was line, but the weather is now threatening. A PATROL HUSTLED. Auckland, .Saturday. All leave was up at 12.30 last night. Towards midnight a patrol was busy getting stragglers aboard. The treatment of one drunken sailor by the patrol was resented by a crowd. As (lie man fell down unconscious, the siK'ctators assumed a decidedly hostile attitude, hooting and hustiin" th" patrol. The ollicer in charge ordered his men to draw revolvers. Affairs were looking very serious when a large party of local police arrived on the scene, drove the crowd back, and escorted the patrol and their prisoner to the wharf. DESERTIONS FROM THE FLEET. Auckland, Saturday Xight. Already the Inspector of Police has in his charge two deserters from the battleships, and has been requested by the Consul-General (.Mr. W. A. Frickitt) to hold them until a guard from the auxilliury Yankton (which is still in Auck- ; land) can come ashore to take them on . board. The men will then be taken to i Sydney, where they will again be plac- . Ed on their respective vessels, i During the week about lz! deserters s were reported to the Consul-General, 1 hut many of. these may have been re- ' turned to their ships, as the eases were c reported dail£ ADMIRAL SPERRY'S FINAL • MESSAGE.

"MORE BINDING THAN TREATIES." Auckland, Saturday. Admiral Sperry, in his final message to the colony, through tho Governor, a as follows: "On the eve of the departure of the American Atlantic licet from Auckland, the Commander-in-Chief desires, on behalf of the officers and men, to express to you our hearty thanks for the cordial reception and generous hospitality accorded the lleet by the Government and people of the Dominion. The friendship and esteem existing between the British Empire and the United States cannot fail to be strengthened by a visit of this nature, winch will bring to botih nations a realisation of their dose relationship and their common interests, and will foster sympathy and mutual rnderstanding, which are more binding than treaties."

CONGRATULATIONS ALL HOUND. PREMIER'S VERDICT. Auckland, August 14. "I do not know that anything could have been hotter carried out or designed," said the i'rime Minister this evennig, on being asked for his opinion as 'to'tho arrangements and festivities in 'connection with lleet weok. ''The whole of the programme has been admirably handled front beginning to end. When 'one considers the large number of people who landed from the fat and the fact that only live full days have been available for carrying through tine comprehensive programme, the result is, to my mind, creditable beyond ex- ' invasion. There has not been a mis carriage of any single arrangement." Regarding tho Rotorua visit Sir Joseph remarked that the Admiral had said that lie had seen war dances, etc., performed by Indians ami several othvr nativu races, but he had never seen anything to approach those of the Maoris of Rotorua for gracefulness and "impressiveness.

• The Mayor, m a letter to the United States Cousul-General, conveys his congratulations upon the order, good eon'duct, and sobriety of the thousands of men ashore trom the Hoot during the week. He says the behaviour of the men was most exemplary, and reflects the highest credit on the lleet. Rear-Admiral Sir Richard l'oore, 'Commander-in-Chief of the Australasian Squadron, writes to the Mayor, expressing the grateful thanks of the officors and men for Auckland's generous 'hospitality, and pays a sincere tribute to the arrangements made. He assures the committee the celebration will long be remembered with great pleasure. THE AMERICAN SAILOR AND HIS SIllJ?. The visitor of the Americans has exploded many beliefs in connection with the American sailor. The American navy has always been cosmopolitan. It gives the best pay, the easiest discipline, and the most liberal mess of any of the world's navies, and consequently has always attracted time-expired men of other navies, but particularly of the 'British navy. In the Spanish war it was generally understood that the flower of the American gunners had been trained by Britain, and this characteristic has remained as a general principle. But when President Roosevelt determined to discard the "seven rotten old monitors" as Admiral Sperrey termed them at the Auckland banquet, and replace thein with the magnificent battleships now in New Zealand waters,' and when finally lie determined on their "showing the Hag" round the world, and " rounding the Horn" he determined that men as well as ships should be " made in America." Consequently the Aucklanders, who had been expecting to seu mature ex-British seamen, with

' a big leavening of Scandinavians, and a ' flavour of colour, wore astonished a« ' boat after boat landed to hud a per 1 sonnel largely composed of sniooth-fa?eil boys, and nearly every man or boy betraying by his accent his native origin, and they were astonished too to note how very few coloured men there are on those silips. The fact is that 1)11 per cent, of the personnel is " native born,'' and (he Japanese ward and mess room servants were dispensed with for American negroes. It used to be a joke in the American navy. "Do be careful, the Japanese Vice-Admiral is listening." Hut this fleet doesn't carry any more masquerading " Admirals." Judging from personal observation its own officers are a particularly keen lot, ami » particularly bright and intelligent lot, and tlie men, boyish as they are, apart from the leavening of older petty ollieers, etc., if they have the frolicsomoness of big boys also have their supple-

ness and adaptability. All through this cruise they have been developing, and the men individually and collectively have learned self-reliance. '• When we were on the West Indies Station," said an officer, " w were always in and out of dock for repairs, and the cost to the country ran to millions. Now (hat we are cruising in big waters we have learned to do our own little jobs, and iiml bow wonderfully few there are to do, when the proverbial ' stitch in time' is attended to. At Frisco there was hardly any need for docking after'coming right round the Horn. Yet in the old days the dockyard officers were always finding things to hold us in dock for!" What is true of the ships is true also of the men. The great test they have been put to is hammering out the true steel, and the navy of the United Stales will be infinitely the more formidable for this world's cruise than if it bad stayed at home, while the additional cost—the long carriage of American coal—could immediately be dispensed with if the President thought it 1

policy to use Australasian or other sii] plies. Otherwise it is costing no inoi ■than manoeuvring in home waters,whil the ollicers figured at junkets ashore.Manawatu Times.