OUR FIGHTING SEAMEN.

Grey River Argus, 22 January 1912, Page 8

OUR FIGHTING SEAMEN.

DEMOCRACY AND DISCIPLINE. I

INTERESTING OPINIONS

INTERESTING OPINIONS.

Mr. TTionel Yexloy is an ox-naval blue-jackot, who has left the navy for a ' shore billot" as editor ot : the naval periodical "The Fleet." He is also the author of several books dealing with life in the navy from the lowerdeck point of view. lie is a fluent writer and a vigorous' critic of the methods by which ships are "run and naval crews arc managed. Bnt hp is a terriblo grumbler. He is tho author of a new book entitled .:" Our Fighting Seamen," the purport of which is to iniVuce tho belief that the bluejackets of the King's ships are liabitually subjected to severe punishment for nonexistent offences,' and 'that a "pseudodiscipline" is enforced which produces grievous and serious discontent among the men who are tho backbone of Britain's fighting force. In his opening pages he quotes a>' fpeecli delivered in. South Australia by Admiral Sir Day Bosanquet, Governor of the State, in the course of which the ' Admiral said :" "The personnel is the most important point in ai fleet, and the education and training and discipline of the personnel are tho whole end-all and be-all of a navy. When the crisis comes, when the hour of trial arrives, the. slight difference which -only. the eye of an expert can detect is .sufficient to send one ship to the bottom in ten minutes, and leave the other untouched." _ Tho author-devotes .about threefourths of a substantial volume to.'relating the hardships and cruelties endured by British naval 1 seamen' in past centuries, and he v argues that, though corporal punishment has been abolishV ed in the" navy, and the conditions of service have been greatly improved, sti 1 1. pu ni sh me'nts For noniin al offences are so frequent and so humiliating that on the battleships and cruisers especially the disaffection on "the lower deck is so serious as to endanger the efficiency of the ship. He accuses the captains of some of the big ships cf keeping two sets of "punishment books," a falsified one for production to tho Admiralty, and a correct one for their own information. After giving a number of specific- instances, the author writas: — "The lower deck is dissatisfied, and the "disaffection will and must grow year by year as the intelligence of the lower deck increases. But this is not on account of Socialism, but because naval discipline has the same foundation to-day, when our ships of war are manned 'with the pick of the nation, -as when they were manned from prison hulks and with the help of the press gang." He goes on to say: — "Strict discipline .in ninetynine* cases out of a hundred spells petty tyranny, and these open signs of disaffection, instead of being put down to the growth of Socialism, should be accepted for what they are — storm signals of -wrong conditions. The nation will do well to grasp the simple tjruth, viz., that the personnel of the Nayj has so completely changed that it is quite out of touch and out of sympathy with naval laws." Mr. Yexloy sug gosts that in time of war a naval mut my might result unless the existing conditions are altered. Ho writes:— "We go on counting up our Dread noughts year by year, and imagin that as long -as we have a supcriorit, in .numbers we are quite safe; yet a least one-sixth of our ships are afflict cd with that type of discipline whicl: as Admiral Sir D.. H. Bosanqnet says ' is sufficient when the crisis comes i take them to the bottom in ten mini tes.' " These are serious statement) The public would like to know whel her there is any substantial truth i them,' or whether they represent men ly the bilious outpourings of a chiv nic, grumbler. The question, of naval discipliiu which the author deals with 1 this volume, is one that is likely t emerge into overmastering importanc in Australia with the growth of tn Australian Naval unit, which is t be shortly increased with the additio of a- battle-ship cruiser and seven smaller cruisers and .destroyers. Henc tho statements made by Mr. YexJe may well be laid to heart by the admii istrators of tho -Australian naval force What standard of naval discipline wi be laid down, and how will it be ci forced? It is perfectly plain that tl; costliest ships and appliances for. mal ing war will be worse than useless i the time of emergency. unless the crev are well disciplined and well trainc for the performance °'f their dutie Whether an adequate standard of di ■cipline can be maintained in the Au tralian Naval forces under existir political conditions is a subject upc which some light is thrown by tl author of this A^olume, who regarc "continual questioning in the Parli'i ment" as "a valuable safety-valve. There are those who will fear tin "continual questioning in Parliament if introduced in connection with in a tors of discipline on board the ships < the Australian naval unit, will be an; thing but advantageous to the effi iency of the service. The problem - how' to- reconcile democracy with di cipline is one that is likely to test tl capacity of the "administrators of. tl Australian naval forces' to, the. "utmos 'There is reason to suppose that tl difficulty has manifested itself in s acute form in the French Navy. On tl subject of .the enlargement of the ar< of selection for Cadets at the Roy Naval College, Osborne, and also :.< the subject of promotions • from tl lower-deck to the corps of officers, IV Yexley is very emphatic. .Already i other quarters, notably .in "TJ Times," it ha s been argued that tl opportunity of receiving training the Royal Naval College ' should- 1 made available free of cost,- on tl ground that the existing changes na row the area of selection agarnst . t] interests of efficiency. This > book shoi that the advanced political thoug of the day is making its influen felt even "in the lloyal Navy. Whetli that influence will be for good or ill : who can say?— ". Sydney" Daily.,.Tel graph." ;- :; r

According to rthe latest mformaiio (sta-ted the Copenhagen correspondti of the London '''Daily Telegraph^ ' ire cently) Captain Raold Amundsen 1 ship, the Fram on returning- .from-AE South Polar ice, will go. rto HbbaiM Tasmania, instead of "New Zeaianc Captain Amundsen altered his mm< thinking- that iti was not) correct* t have the same base as Captain Scoti namely, Lyttelton, New Zealand', an therefore Hob'arb was preferred. Th Fram's voA^age from ice to .civilisa.fc.io will be longtr than the Terra .No va' and further more, the Terra Nova ha .the stronger engine. ; The Notwegaa papers, iv mentioning this matter, no? express the fear that Captain Amun sen if he reaches the South Pole, \vt ' .probaJbly not succesd in getting- -bac 'to civilisation and giving his' repoi of the trip so early as 'Captian Scot on account of the. alteration men ■tioned aibove. , '