THE BOYS IN BLUE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 23, 28 January 1908, Page 8

THE BOYS IN BLUE.

STREET AND HARBOUR SCENES. There is no doubt that the Australasian squadron is here ; the housewives who hang out their linen over Oriental Bay way when the northerly is blowing know it, and anybody who goes into the street at almost any hour of the day and night knows it. Around every corner comes a little squad of men with sun-browned faces and wide, blue trousers, the envy of civilians with the nether limbs more closely circumscribed. The black smoke from the many funnels of the 'fleet rolls plentifully about the hills. It is a rule of the Admiralty that warships must be kept under steam, and it is plain that tho commanders of this armada are taking no risks ; the stokers are kept busy. The people along i Clyde-quay and the neighbouring uplands like the spectacle of the bull-dogs, squatting so grimly on the water — though this joy is not shared by merchant mariners — but they do not love the smoke wafted to the curving shore by. the north wind. The ships seem to have much to say to one another, but the talking is done silently, with flags and electric lights. Wl day long the flag dots and dashes, and far into the night the electric light twinkles. For one omission the residents near the waterfront are grateful. Last time the squadron came here in force the Admiral had a great gun fired when the bells beat five 'o'clock, but now five is allowed to strike without any special fuss. The nicest routine noise — it is really music — made by the cruisers is at sunset, when the bugles bid farewell to the dying day. It is a melody^ which gives the sensation of sad-gladness or glad-sadness. Last iu s ht the sounds of revelry cam? gently overHhe calm, light-spangled waters ; it, was band playing beautifully to please visitors i'rom 'the shore. The officers, of course, have pleasant times in port — thsy entertain and are entertained nobly — and the men have opportunities to seek whatever solace the pint or its multiples or sub-multiples can give, but a patrol gc-es around to see that liberty does not degenerate into licensp.' Ever since the demonstration by some of the men at Christchurch the naval authorities have not wholly trusted them ashore. Therefore, a guard, of solemn mien, goes diligently about the streets on the look-our for" any handy man who may have slipped the painter of law and order. Two-legged sailors are very common in the town, but the monotony is varied occasionally by a four-legged one. This is a pet goat, cherished by the men on one of the warships. The animal trots about amiably with its masters, and seems glad of the chance to tread the solid earth again ; it is not awed in the least at the approach of the patrol. Though the men are here and -there in abundance, they are not nearly so much here, there and everywhere as their Japanese predecessors were. There were only three training uhips from Nippon in port, but judging by the numbers that a stroller would meet at the most unlikely places he would estimate the fleet J at thirty. The Asiatics peeped and peered everywhere; the Britons are content •with the main streets.