WHAT SAILORS READ.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20792, 7 February 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

WHAT SAILORS READ.

TASTE FOR SERIOUS BOOKS. NEW EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS. Any idea that sailors don't care about serious reading is abundantly disproved l>y the return to Plymouth of 11.U.5. Cornwall, aftor 2-J years' foreign commission. Dining that period no fewer than 5000 novels were sold from the bookstall on board. Iho variety of reading shows that Jack ny no means confines himself to tho iuigur Wallace type of thriller. His preieiences were tor: Dickens, Scott, the Bion'es, Thackeray, Jane Austen, - and Hardy. Wells and Stevenson were also : favourites, while even Galsworthy's "For- • Byte Saga was in demand, v ■Musically Jack seems to have a liking ? . the , SO "S o{ ljll ds, and there were of canaries on board, brought ; with tons of other treasure trove, as ■■ f <jVeiy 11103:5 :in 'l wardroom seemed ;c to be converted into an aviary, and on " streets e Very other sailor seemed to . carry a canary in a gilded cage. •s jfp .1 1011 H! 1 t . lO °l ( ' fashioned conception J\ S a t ! ia l ) py-g°-lucky person, , ; ltU ® and loose habits. .; ll . ""appearing, it is not always '■ ■' a , l L to cla >' llis Majesty's ships v} manned by men of a far superior , Every year the standard of gen- - 'V-v v knowledge increases, and to reach ! el rating a bluejacket must now fi tcSfs which wou,d tax Ul ° no pfffrt average landsman. That i, v . coo i ~.s are spared "to provide men with the contents of lower jig*** bbranes'bear witness. " iik.