Page 7 Advertisements Column 4

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 135, 31 October 1914, Page 7

A London naval critic emphasises the weakness of 1 1h; < li'i'nui 11 Navy in trained men by quoting tlu; following figures showing how the Herman licet is manned to-day: —Lung service volunteers, 17,0011; conscripts -who have served iilluat ii mum In, Hi,000; conscripts, who >luive served alioat 22 months, 18,000; conscripts who have served alloat 10 months, 20,0110; total, 71,001); reservists recalled to active service, in eluding men discharged on October 1, 1!)K1, l'Jli, 1011, f>O,IKK>; grand total. 121,01M1. These figures may ite accepted as representing the standard of elliciency in the Oeiinian licet at Hi is •moment, it i's desperately weak in skilled railings, as Grand Admiral von Tirpitz admitted .in so many words. '.Moreover, owing to this deficiency there is reason to believe that, tlhe older ships had for some time prior to the outbreak of war received little a.iltentiojii. When the reserves were called up it must have been necessary to readjust the complements of practically all tilie shi'ps in the Ocrm-an 1 Kavyi except those of the mosquito class 1 and the effect must have been to lower the efficiency of the Active fleet in order to provide for the needs of tile reserve fleet.