FLEETS IN CONTRAST.

Otago Witness, Issue 2388, 7 December 1899, Page 35

FLEETS IN CONTRAST.

A correspondent of tho Army and Navy Gazette writes: — '"The visit of the Eritieh Channel fleet to Lisbon wa3 followed immediately by that of the German fleot, whose funeral march up tho Tagua and method of anchoring compared very unfavourably with tho daeh and machine-like regularity with which our own fleet was handled. A few v/eeks later the French Government, not to bo outdono in tho matter of ' naval demonstrations, sent tho Northern fleet of somo 11 battleships and cruisers, aa well as smaller vessels, to tho game port. Such a powerful .display naturally invited comparisons, and these were by no meana flattering to tho last-comers. I happened to bo at Lisbon when tho Frenchmen arrived, and accompanied tho stream of sight-seers down tho -river to watch tho progress of the ships up etre-ap. Their fleet wa3 a motley collection of ship* of all ages and types, in striking contract to our own homogeneoud fleet, while tho haphazard way in which the mast 3 appeared to have been stuck in, and tho enormous amount of top-hamper that lowered above tho batteries, imparted to Hit* vessels anything but sv businesslike aspect, la fact, their elorcnly appe-arance was tho topic or conyerwition. and the first unfavourable impressions were by no means modified by their progress up the lagus, for, whereas the British phip« were navigated up by their own t officers at a 12-knot speed, two local pilots i had to be engaged for tho French fiset, which crawlod up at about four nole-j an hour in by m meana good order or distance, and finally came to an anchor anyhow, ' ivll over tho shop,' a« was remarked. * Naval experts ' sometimes tell us that tho French system of education producw a much moro scientific class of officer than the EngH>h one. It may bj so, but I think very^few of those who saw the haudling of the two fleets on tho occasion referred to would question tho superiority of our own system as a means of producing offioer<j capable of handling ships at sea, which, after all, is the more important of the two, and tho chief end and aim of all systems of trjuniug."

Mr B. SI. Litchfield, at present resident inspector of tho Bank of New Zealand, Wellington, succeeds Mr Kmblir.g as manager of the Christchurch branch.

Mr Green, at present manager of tho Blenheim branch, has bocn appointed manager o_f the Oaruaru branch of tho Bank or New Z<!alaad