BRITAIN LAGGING

Evening Star, Issue 21012, 28 January 1932, Page 2

BRITAIN LAGGING

TRAINING Of OFFICERS MERCANTILE MARINE VITAL PRESENT-DAY HEED Regret that Groat Britain should lag behind other countries in certain respects in the training of merchant service officers was expressed last evening by Captain - Selwyn M. Day, C. 8., DS.O., R.N.R., formerly nautical assessor to the Court of Appeal, who arrived at Wellington, from England. That British officers of the mercantile marine should be specially trained in order that the service should be up to date Captain Day regards as urgently necessary. “Itis to Great Britain,” ho said to a ‘ Dominion ’ reporter, “ for her continuance as a unit of the greatest Empire in the world that an e ffir'- t merchant service is of more importance than to any other nation at any time in the world’s history.” ‘‘ I consider that the executive personnel of the British merchant service is in a regrettable position, and one that is exceptional compared with that of all our competitors, some eighteen other, countries,” ho said. “I mean that we have no system by which the embrvo officer can continue his general education at sea. It means that bo goes without it for the whole term of his apprenticeship. Modern day requirements demand above all in whatever line of life you may enter a certain degree of culture and an all-round education, quite apart from the particular knowledge and acquirements needed in any given activity. “ NOT A SINGLE SHIP . . .” “ All countries except Great Britain have recognised this, and have provided sea-going school ships, invariably sailing ships with small auxiliary power, carrying an educational staff. There is nto a British ship afloat that has a schoolmaster or naval instructor—far different from the time when I went to sea mid when i'.cre were running numerous sailing ships such as the training ships under Lord Brasscy’s scheme that carried school staffs and sixty or seventy cadets. These boys not only acquired technical training under but their general education was continued. There is not a single ship in which this can ho obtained in Great Britain to-day. This is obviously necessary, if only for the reason that all our competitors have now embarked upon such a system, and the seaman more so than in any other vocation compotes directly with the foreigner.

“ If a medical man, a lawyer, or a butcher does' not treat his clients or customers politely or with as much consideration as his contemporary on. the other s.de of tho road ho will lose his clientele; but tho custom and money for service rendered remains in the country.' But if British, ships do not giro tho same consideration to passengers or to the merchants who patronise tho ships in which they obtain tho greatest satisfaction the custom, regardless of national flags, as well as the money, will go to the foreigner. For this reason officers’ training is a matter of . national importance, and must be considered from this point of view, quite apart from the fact that it is to the merchant service in the future that wo must look for naval defence more than ever in the past. WAR-TIME ASPECT. “ Tho individual merchant ship must have a competent crew under sufficient executive direction to outrival the skill, tho discipline, and the seamanship of its foreign combatant. It is this national aspect that has prompted Japan to adopt the schoolship principle. She has five such sea-going training establishments. Germany likewise has long instituted it as an indispensable complement to her merchant service training system. Last _ year France, realising tho responsibilities entailed by increased foreign competition, built the training ship Charles Danielon to carry fifty cadets. In Leith there is being built at the present time a new ship for Belgium. Even Jugo-Slavia has a ship building for this purpose. In fact, as I have already indicated, Great Britain is out of date in this respect.” Captain Day is at present on a world tour to last about a year. “Having been at sea lor about forty years, 1 am taking busman’s holiday,” he remarked, “ 1 came to Wellington thirtyseven years ago, shortly after I went to sea, on the Duke of Argyll, which stayed hero for about three months. Wellington ia apparently as windy today as it was then! The voyage has been most enjoyable, but 1 am not surprised at the comfort of the trip—which I have heard remarked upon on more than one occasion—considering the care the shipping company takes in the training of its officers.”