35

A.—4

(b.) Stoker Ratings : The number required is about 500, plus 30 per cent., a total of 650. The annual entry as stokers is recommended, as a commencement, to be 50. It will thus take about fifteen years to complete the stoker establishment. (c.) It is not proposed to give figures for the entry of other ratings, as the numbers required are not great, and can be better arranged at a later period. The question of the training facilities must also largely influence any decision made. 28- Naval Depot: A small shore establishment, capable of accommodating eventually 20 officers and 180 men, should be instituted at or near Wellington. It should if possible be outside or on the outskirts of the town, with facilities for training and recreation. It may be possible to utilize a portion of Trentham Camp for this purpose. RESERVE NAVAL FORCES. New Zealand Division of the Royal Naval Reserve. 29. Lt is recommended that the personnel of the Reserve Naval Forces should be enlisted tinder similar conditions to those of the Royal Naval Reserve in the Mother Country, and that the officers and men should be provided in great part by the Mercantile Marine community of the Dominion, including men employed under the Marine Department and Harbour Boards, the Postmaster-General's Department, and from the civil community. 30. The duties which will fall to the Royal Naval Reserve (N.Z.) in time of war come under two headings : — (a.) Seagoing duties. (b.) Shore duties. 31. Under the heading of seagoing duties are included the provision of personnel to — (a.) Provide the necessary naval additions to the complements of armed merchant escort ships and other vessels used on convoy duties, these requirements including specialist ratings such as gunlayers, seaman gunners, range-takers, Ordnance artificers, signalmen, and telegraphists: (b.) Provide important numbers of guns' crews, signalmen, and telegraphists for auxiliary patrol vessels and mine-sweepers : (c.) Provide important numbers of guns' crews for defensively armed merchant ships: (d.) Provide the personnel of the mine-sweeping service. 32. To provide the necessary personnel, the following procedure is recommended :— Officers. —To be entered from the Mercantile Marine of New Zealand under similar conditions to officers of the Royal Naval Reserve. Men. — (a.) To be entered from the Mercantile Marine, including the fishing industry, under similar conditions to men of the Royal Naval Reserve. (b.) To be entered direct from the shore. It should be arranged that volunteers for this service should be exempted from service in the New Zealand Military Forces from the age of eighteen. Prior to that age they should undergo the customary Cadet training. Subsequent to enlistment in the Naval Reserve they should undergo periods of naval training on the same scale as that laid down for military training. If sufficient volunteers are not forthcoming it is recommended that the necessary number of men should be allocated for this service under a clause of the Compulsory Training Act.

(5—A. 4.