NAVY LEAGUE SEA CADETS

Evening Star, Issue 24056, 1 December 1941, Page 5

NAVY LEAGUE SEA CADETS

STRONG NAVAL POTENTIAL DUHEDIH UNIT STEADILY PROGRESSING “ One of the striking features of the age is the call to youth; the passionate desire of youth to servo, and the growing recognition of the paramount need to make the fullest use of this adolescent force in the development of the new world to which so many are giving lip service and so few realising its potentiality,” writes Major-general Bell in a recent issue of ‘ The Navy.' How well the foregoing remarks apply to the work of the Navy League in the Dominion is being forcefully brought out by the growing impetus achieved by the Dunedin Navy League Sea Cadets. Indeed, the! Navy League, wjth its essentially broad outlook on the needs of the Empire, lias been concerned with this particular problem for many years, and how well the graduates of the local corps are progressing with the senior service in New Zealand waters and abroad is from time to time brought homo by the excellent reports reaching Dunedin. RECOGNISED AT LAST, Added interest has boon given to the Sea Cadets now that official recognition has been bestowed upon the organisation by the Government. The New Zealand Naval Board has been authorised to recognise the Sea Cadets as a naval unit, and Dunedin officers, who have been working towards this end for the last three years, have expressed gratification at the Government’s action. “ It is of immense benefit to the boys,” said Lieutenant 6. Robb, second in command of the Dunedin unit, in conversation with the ‘ Star.’ “ Not only are they now classed as naval ratings,” he said, 11 hut they have the opportunity of graduating into the senior service.” The provisions of the Finance Act, No. 2, authorise the Naval Board, as it thinks fit, to assist units or controlling bodies of Sea Cadets by providing stores and equipment by way of grant, loan, or purchase. APPOINTMENT OF NEW CHIEF. Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey, who commanded H.M.S. New Zealand in the last war, has been appointed Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps. In his seventieth year, Sir Lionel is reported to be very fit and active, and is expected shortly to undertake a tour of his new command. The training ship Waireka is steadily being brought into condition. It is moored off the end of the Victoria wharf. In the past few weeks a good deal of time has been put into making the vessel -watertight. A coating of tar has been applied to the outside of the hull up to the high-water mark, and the inside treated with concrete to make a solid job. A great innovation has been the laying down of wooden floors in the lower fore and aft saloons, and with the fresh odour of black and battleship-grey paint throughout these quarters have taken on a very attractive appearance. Gradually the work of chipping and painting the entire vessel inside and out is being undertaken as time and opportunity allow, and each week sees the old ferry steamer slowly and surely regaining her ..former pride. As materials come to hand the members of the unit are being fittted out in their uniforms, ami the distinctive “ N.L.T.S. Waireka ” hat band is already to be -seen in tl/.- city streets every parade night. A VALUABLE SERVICE. Writing to a shipmate in Dunedin, a graduate from the Dunedin Corps writes;—“ I can assure you that I have not forgotten the Sea Cadet Corps. In fact; my thoughts often wander back to those good times we had down at the bid Waireka. lam now on a ship, and, believe me, it is just great after hanging around shore stations.” The letter goes on to speak of naval life at sea, and, though the writer quite likely did not realise it at the tirrie, his remarks throughout numerous passages can readily be recognised as a grateful tribute to the training he received at the hands of his instructors in Sea Cadet days. In the words of Major Bell: “ These lads are all providing a solution to the greatest problem that faces the British Empire, and, through it, the new world, in ensuring that the rising generation is adequately and nobly prepared to take over, in due time, the biggest business the world has even known, that of running the British Empire in the years that lie ahead. Could youths have a finer aim? The answer can be seen in the smiling faces of the eager cadets on parade.”