The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1912. SEA TRAINING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 320, 9 July 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1912. SEA TRAINING.

Now and again that obsolete gunboat, 11.M.5. Sparrow, is discussed in the New Zealand Parluirnent. It cannot be forgotten that this ancient collection of sheet iron, which used to do duty on the river Nile in days lang syne, was bought in an expansive moment by a great colonial Imperialist for £BOO and allowed to rust for some years at her moorings. Subsequently during % gpecial wave of imperialism she was nam- • ed '-'the Amokura," a skipper who had claims on the kindness of the country was appointed commander, and recruiting for boys for this service was instituted. The service is unique in the Empire. It is in no sense Imperial. Its discipline is not naval; its intention is not naval; and it has nothing whatever to do with New Zealand defence. The boys who form the crew of the Amokura are ordinary cvery-day boys of good character and physique, and are not, as many people suppose, sent to the ship for corrective purposes. In short, the Amokura and her work it purely and simply the hobby of a deceased statesman. There could be no objection to the training of Now Zealand youths for the sea if the youths were trained for the service of the State. The facts arc that the Amokura is a State ship bought by the people and maintained by the people at considerable expense. The having trained these boys releases them on the expiration of their short term of service, and they are then perfectly free to return to civil life. It mostly happens, however, that as the boys have a penchant for the sea they join the mercantile marine at the expiration of their service. That is to say, the State takes the responsibility of training, say, 30 or 40 boys at one time as recruits for private shipping companies, who, to be quite frank, don't care whether they have been trained or not. A proportion of these boys enter lI.M. Navy, but on exactly the same terms as any other boys of their age and physical qualification. The objection to the Amokura and all its works is that it is of no real service to the State. Mr. Laurenson, ex-Minister for Marine, recently suggested Unit the Amokura represents the sole chance for New Zealand ;boys to go to sea, and he has also suggested the extension of the service. There could be no objection to the extension of the service if its national or Imperial utility co*ld be denionsi rated, but as the point is not demonstrable, no one not blinded to the facts would countenance any extension. The Amokura is not a recognised training school either for (he Navy or for the mercantile marine. She simply exists as a sea-home for a few boys who would otherwise be working ashore or attending school. There is no justification or excuse for her or for any other obsolete gunboats of her kind unless she is used as an auxiliary of the Navy. In effect, she is a State-paid auxiliary to the privatsly-

owned mercantile marine. The people of New Zealand pay for the unnecessary training of fooys on whom this peculiar kind of charity is lavished. In th« rather feehle and inconclusive discussion in Parliament on the Amokura, the only practical suggestion came from Sir Joseph Ward, who suggested that provision should be made for the entry of New Zealand youths to the Australian Naval College. The idea is excellent, but there is no earthly reason for drafting youths from the Amokura to the Australian Naval College. Indeed, it would most likely be a handicap, and it is at least doubtful if the average Amokura boy would be fitted for training as a naval officer. The Amokura repre- ; sents a species of Ministerial vanity. '■ There are no results of service to the | State, no reason for the expenditure of a yearly sum of money, no cause for congratulating either the last three Ministers of Marine, and emphatically no ground for referring to the matter as "Imperial." Anyone who is capable of seeing furthor than the average lime : light politician will understand that if the State undertakes to train youth* in a specific occupation these youths should serve the State when they are trained at the expense of the people; that if the State trains youths for any private shipping company it might with equal justice train youths at the expense of the nation for private shore businesses; that it will be sheer advertising to buy up more British scrap iron to train youths whose parents are clamoring for free places for their boys on the Amokura, and that New Zealand is not going to advance a ha'-porth if 100 instead of 50 boys are trained at one time aboard worn-out gunboats. Despite Mr. Laurenson's emotional and advertising eulogy of the Amokura, we continue to hold that she has been absolutely worthless as a State investment and that any addition to the service will simply add to the expense without in any way aiding the nation on its Imperial path.