HOW A NAVAL OFFICER IS TRAINED.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9554, 29 July 1909, Page 7

HOW A NAVAL OFFICER IS TRAINED.

The rules for entry into the British Navy are quita simple. In the first place canf.idates must be of pure European descent and the sons either of British born or naturalised British subjects. Applications are made to the Assistant Private Secretary to the First Lord when the candidate has reached the age of 12, and the boy ia required to present himself before a committee, which interviews each applicant separately. A medical examination is now necessary to show whether he is pysically fit for the navy. If it should be shown that he has a weak constitution, physical weakness, bad eyesight, or any other defect, he will not be accepted. Should he pass he has to enter for the qualifying education examination. The subject, include English, history, and geography, arithmetic, and algebra, geometry, French or German, aMci Latin. Now fellows the period of training, which lasts for four years and eight months, first at Osborne, then at the [ Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and afterwards in the training cruiser. For the training the parent.', are required to pay £75 per annum, but the sons of officers may be accepted by their lordships at the reduced rate of £4O per annum. The parents must also meet the cost of an outfit, which is about £35, and other odd expenses, including washing, books, sports, etc., which amount to about £8 per^term. The pocket hioney is only or.e shilling a week, and parents are requested not to give big "tips." When the cadet joints the training cruiser his parents are required tn make him a private allowance of £sl; a year, and this must be continued until he reaches the rank of acting sub-lieutenant. The transition from Osborne to Dartmouth marks the first definite step of progress, and for a description of the cadets' life theie we may quote from a little book "How to become a Naval Officer" (Gieve, Matthews, and Seagrove, Limited). "His first view of the college is likely to long-lingering memory upon the mind of the young cader. It burets upon his vision, I«o to speak, in the full grandeur lof its superb proportions. . . . The chief impression i; one of graat size. Everything seem? t) be on a scale uf magnificent proportions—an idea to which the grandeur of the surrounding sceneiy largely contributes. "The mechanical instructional workshops are situated at some little distance from the main block of the college, being nearer the water, and thus considerably lower down the hill. "The course of instruction imparted here is the practical side of the artificer's handicraft—a knowledge of which is manifestly invaluable to an officer of a modern warship, which has not been inappropriately described as 'a great floating box of tricks.' "Strict expert supervision is exercised over the cadets while they are handling lathes, drills, vices, files, and the like, so as to minimise any possibility of their suffering mishap through lack of experience with 1001.. Bsassotaaaca The shops themselves aro[equipped wiih an uncommonly fine engineering and fitting plant, which the proper use of which the cadet is taught how to accustom himself. "Probably there is no feature of their work which appeals more to the young gentlemen than this opportunity to handle the whirring machines, and with their own hands to fashion a bar of rough fcteel into a polished spindle, or to make a joint that will resist a steam pressure of three hundred pounds on the tquare inch. "Dartmouth and its environs is an ideal spot for the; pursuit of healthy j recreations. The splendid natural facilities of the college in this re- j spect are utilised to the fullest possible degree. Indeed, it is not too j much to say that the cricket and football fields rank as. the finest: stretches of truf in the whole of the rich pastoral country of Devon. "The gymnasium i'j. a spacious hall standing at a distance of a few : undred yards from the main block of buildings. Here it is that a staff of skilled instructors supervise the physical development of the cadets throughout their sojourn at the college in conformity with all the most approved principles of hygienic exercise, "But the pride of the Royal Naval. College is the beagle pacK, which is famous everywhere in the sur rounding countryside, and merits more *han a passing rderence. "The kennels are on the brow of the hill near the playing fields, and the average strength of their inmates for some years past has been about twenty couples. Throughout the season meets are held every halfholiday, at various places up to a distance of five miles from the college. "The commander of the college is master of the hunt, and his helpers usually consist of twelve cadets, sei lected principally on account of being ' very fleet of foot. The country for leagues around Dartmouth consists of ;' pasture uplands and orchards, very 1 excellently adapted to coui-Eing. and as most of the farmers are decidedly interested in the beagles, and do their best to start a hare, the runs are mainly attended by good sport."