LIFE IN THE NAVY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15768, 8 December 1916, Page 3

LIFE IN THE NAVY.

A NEW ZEALANDER'S EXPERIENCES.

In the courso of an interesting letter to Captain G. I' 1 .. Post, of the Government steamer Tutanekai, on which ship ho was for some time chief officer, Lieutenant B. Carringtou, who is well known iu New Zealand as an officer in the Union Company's service, and as tutor on tho training steamer Aparima, gives an engrossing account of the joys and sorrows of life in tho Navy. "It, is a ■'grand life,"' In- writes, "rushing about day and night 'in all sorts of weather at top speed, and keeping on tho alert all the time, for traffic is just as abundant here as in times of peace. Of course, wo havo to run alot of risks, but .wo generally manage to scrape through all right. T rcceivcd my commission as sub-lieutenant only a week after I.arrived Homo, and then went through a. six weeks' course in gunnery. Since the middle of October I have been serving at sea with the rank'of lieutenant, as second in command of a, big thirty-knot destroyer. My word ! It would do some of the New Zealand sailors good to come over here for twelve months! Often oiir men are lucky if they got- four hours' sleep in twenty-four. Sundays and'all days are the same in the Navy, and of courso there is no question of overtime ; and still they are always cheerful, and you never hear any complaints or sec any sour faces. I must say the men are real Britishers, and have their hearts right in their work.''