APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28257, 20 April 1957, Page 10

APPRENTICESHIP IN NAVY

Shirley Boy Chosen

A Christchurch boy has won a special apprenticeship in the Royal New Zealand Navy. He is Ronald Kenneth Longley, of 108 Warden street, Shirley. The apprenticeship was one of a number offered by the Navy to secondary schoolboys throughout the Dominion for competitive examination. Longley’s success was announced by the Director of Naval Recruiting (Commander M. C. Ashdown) in Christchurch yesterday. Longley was a pupil at the Papanui High School. He has been a member of the open sea cadet unit in Christchurch for the last 18 months. Longley will spend 16 months with the Navy in Auckland, during which time he will learn to work in wood. Then he will go s P three years a haalf with the Royal Navy PV ete apprenticeship, year servio <-

"We very definitely prefer lads to stay at school as long as they can and get as much as they can out of their own schools, because the more education they have the better their chances in the Navy,” Commander Ashdown said. “We will not accept any lad unless we are sure he has the ability to progress while in the service.” No one complaint stands out among the applicants rejected on medical grounds, but in the optical tests it has been found that one boy in six is colour blind. This week. Commander Ashdown has been in Timaru, Ashburton, and Christchurch. He has been accompanied by the Christchurch recruiter (Chief Petty Officer A. R. Taylor). On Monday he will leave for the West Coast and after recruiting there he will return to Canterbury for visits to schools in Akaroa, Rangiora, Southbridge, and Lincoln.