NAVY'S CHRISTMAS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 302, 21 December 1932, Page 5

NAVY'S CHRISTMAS.

MASTHEAD CUSTOM.

TURKEY ON THE MENU. SPECIAL CHURCH SERVICES. Sprigs of greenery will be displayed from the mastheads of units of the New Zealand Division of the Eoyal Navy on Christmas Day, for it has long been a tradition of the Navy that any ship that does not observe the practice will be dogged by bad luck in the succeeding year. In England holly is hoisted aloft, but on the New Zealand station pohutukawa is usually made to fill the bill.

Although a number of the men are at present absent from their ships, on holiday leave, those left on board will be able to enjoy a special Christmas dinner. The tentative general mess menu made out for the training ship Philomel, for instance, reads as follows: "Ham and turkey, peas, beans, kumaras and potatoes, Christmas pudding, nuts, etc." The meaning of the "etc." can only be guessed at. For tea on Christmas Day the men will be favoured with Christmas cake and fruit, items which do not usually appear on the evening bill of fare.

Contrary to general opinion, Christmas Day is not made the occasion for the serving out of an extra ration of rum. Such a procedure —"splicing the main brace" they call it in the Navy— is adopted, only on extremely rare occasions. According to officers, of the New Zealand warships, the extra ration has been granted only three times since the war —on the first Armistice Day, on the occasion this year when the King visited the Atlantic Fleet, and recently when the Prince of Wales visited the- Mediterranean Fleet. The rum ration is given out at 11.30 on each day, but the men may keep it until meal time if they so wish. One officer said this morning that the popularity of the rum ration was on the wane and that increasing numbers of men preferred to accept their extra twopence per day.

The chaplain of the squadron will celebrate Holy Communion at 7 a.m. and again at 8 a.m. and will hold Divine service at 10 a.m. There will be another celebration of Holy Communion at 10.45 a.m. All the services will be held in the naval chapel at the Devonport base.