PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3662, 20 May 1924, Page 66

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

H.M.S. HOOD. The commander of the Special Service Squadron of British war vessels now in the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland, is Vice-admiral Sir Frederick L. Field, iv.C.B., C.M.G., his flagship being the Hood. In last week’s notes the descrip tion was passed over by saying that vessel is the latest thing in battleships of the Dreadnought Class. As no one in the South Island has had the very enviable chance of seeing that monster of steel—the product of the greatest naval architects of the world, it would seem incumbent upon me to add this week a brief description of the ship. It is the largest battleship in the world, and at the same time the speediest and most powerful. Being so speedy it unites in itself both the qualities of a fast firstclass cruiser, and the armament and attacking strength of a battleship. Tier displacement is 41.200 tons, that is, settled in the water it displaces that weight of water. Her length is 860 feet, which is a little .over one-sixth of a mile, while her beam is 104 ft and her draught or sailine depth is 32ft. Thus the vessel is, as one writer says, a naval colossus with the speed of a greyhound, being able in spite of the tremendous weight of metal to do 32 knots, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40 miles an hour. Her gun power is terrible to contemplate. A full broadside from her guns would throw more metal in one discharge than all the guns simultaneously fired from all the vessels Nelson commanded in the great battle of Trafalgar. Her big guns are 15in calibre, and of those she carries eight. Her smaller guns are twelve 5.5 in, and four 4in, along with' her six torpedo tubes. Besides these she will carry quickfirers for dealing with torpedoes, mines and aircraft. She was built on the Clvde, the greatest shipbuilding ceutre in the world, and by Scotch engineers, than whom there are not better and more thorough anywhere. Her cost of construction was £6,025.000, an enormous sum, which to count straightaway in single sovereigns would drive one mad. That should convey some idea of her vastness in weight, and the fearful and dizzy complexity of her internal and surface mechanism. Her horsepower is 144.000 when going at full speed. complement of men is 1475, and her upkeep costs over £500,000 a year. These figures relating to one unit among the mighty floating steel fortresses of the British Empire, give us cause for thought, and bring home to mind the sac rice that the British people make to maintain that power which safeguards herself, her trade routes, and incidentally

the Empire, and therefore our Home markets, and our financial, social, and physical wellbeing as partners in such a great and flourishing Empire. How many of us think of what we owe to England? If she goes under as a great naval and industrial power, we starve. OPPORTUNITY OR LUCK. After reading about the Hood and letting our imagination run riot, we may be excused for becoming jealous, or rather envious, of the opportunity that has been afforded the boys and girls of Auckland and Wellington. It has been for them a case of luck. We did not make our harbours down here in the south. God made them, and gave the Northerners the opportunity which they, if wise, have seized. Luck is nothing more than being where the opportunity comes or is, and having the foresight or common sense to avail one’s self of the opportunity. The idea suggests to the mind a lesson on the state or condition of affairs found about you, which, if seized upon or not seized upon at the time, alters your future fortunately or disastrously. The great Shakespeare has profoundly said : There is a tide in the affairs of man, "VYli ch taken at the flood leads on to fortune ; Omitted, all the voyage of their lives Is bound in shallows and in miseries. That splendid poetical metaphor means : those who are not alive to the opportunities around them are people who say they never have any luck, and thus attempt to explain away the causes of why they are either poor or are miserable. Remember, however, that you can be poor and yet not miserable, but to be the latter you must be both a philosopher and a gentleman. And, again, don't forget that the rich are not always happy. You have perhaps heard that a certain multimillionaire said he would give a million and more for a good stomach. The ancient Romans and Greeks, both very clever and intellectual peoples, used to say, “The contented alone are happy,” while some other cynical or soured individual more or less wisely said, “The dead only are happy.” Of the wisdom of the first saying there is no doubt; but of the latter there may be. On the whole, I think happiness depends upon how you live and do your duty to yourself and others. Opportunities lie all about you no matter what your station in life is. If they did not, there would be no great men to read about to-day. Great men are just those who have seized the opportunity nearest to hand and made the most of it. As I have said before, if you have the wit to see, you do not always have to go far from home to find your luck or your chance, and that is especially the case in a J young country like New Zealand. But don’t forget when you see your opportunity; you must have the brains, foresight, and determination to seize it and make the most of it. Let me give you as correctly as 1 can recall a few lines that I learned from a piece of paper I picked up one day in the street. It was headed “Opportunity” : Master of Human Destinies am I; Fame, Love, end Fortune on my footsteps wait; Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate deserts and seas remote, And passing by hovel and mart and palace, Soon or late I knock unbidden at every gate. If sleeping, wake; if feasting, rise before I turn away; It is the Hour of Fate. And they who follow Me reach every state Mortals desire, and conquer every foe save Death; But those who doubt or hesitate. Condemned to failure, penury, and woe. Seek Me in vain, and uselessly implore; I answer not, and return no more. There is a cal) for the deepest and most serious thought in these words. They always call up in my mind that great picture “The Light of the World,” which was exhibited in New Zealand and in all tlie important parts of the Englishspeaking world. It was a picture of Christ knocking at a door overgrown with a neglected vine. He was listening for a response. The picture conveyed the idea that someone inside failed to respond and lost his opportunity, and “The Light of the World” passed on. Now seriously, what I am to impress upon the minds of my readers, both boys and girls, is that many chances make up your early lives, and that they grow fewer, and, alas ! still fewer as you grow older and older. Therefore make the most of your time along good and decent lines when you are young—in your home, in your school, in your sport, and in whatever occupation you enter upon in your youth or earliest manhood. Read well in every sense of the word, think well, play well, and work well, everything in time and place, to the best of your ability, if you wish to attain prosperity or happiness, and especially the two together. There are opportunities lying at your door. Seize them and save lifelong regrets. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might.” Those words were quoted by our greatest and profoundest philosopher, Thomas Carlyle, when expounding his theory or idea of duty and work, the result of which is true happiness. ,