SEA TRAINING OF BOYS

Southland Times, Issue 23726, 26 January 1939, Page 6

SEA TRAINING OF BOYS

Earl Beatty Explains Cadet Movement

CORPS AT DUNEDIN AND CHRISTCHURCH

(Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, January 25. The aims and work of the Navy League’s Sea Cadet Movement in Britain and other Empire countries were further explained in an interview by Earl Beatty, chairman of the league in England, who had expressed the hope in a speech on Tuesday that the movement would be widely extended in New Zealand. At present there are sea cadet corps at Christchurch and Dunedin, but they have so far received little publicity and their existence is almost unknown in other parts of the Dominion. i “The Sea Cadets originated in 1910, when a number of voluntary organizations for the sea training of boys affilir ated with the Navy League,” said Earl Beatty. “Immediately after the Great War the Admiralty recognized the movement by annually inspecting the units and making small grants to those passed as efficient. It also loaned small arms and co-operated in a number of other ways. Boys between the ages of 12 and 18 were eligible to become cadets. They received training in seamanship, boat work, signalling, marksmanship, drill, swimming and gymnastics. Annual courses were held aboard training ships and old warships or in coastal camps. The instruction turned the thoughts of many boys to sea careers, in the Navy or Mercantile Marine, but this was not the primary object. The real purpose was, in the words of Lord Lloyd, president of the Navy League: ‘To lift up the physique of boys who need it most and to furnish for the service of their country in any hour of peril a body of willing and patriotic citizens who have already received valuable training in discipline and seamanship.’ ” MOVEMENT’S RAPID GROWTH In recent years, Earl Beatty continued, the movement had spread rapidly in Britain and corps had been formed also in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In Britain they existed not only on the seaboard, but also in the great industrial centres and elsewhere inland. Distance from the sea made no difference at all to the boys’ keenness. A gift of £50,000 made by Lord Nuffield in October 1937 had been of very great assistance and in the past year about 20 new corps had been formed. Last Trafalgar Day a parade of 3000 cadets had been held in Trafalgar Square. Except for the small amount of monetary aid given by the Admiralty the movement depended entirely upon voluntary effort for the provision of uniforms, drill halls and other facilities for training. The instructors were mostly former officers and ratings of the Royal Navy and Royal Naval Reserve, who ■ willingly gave much time to the work. More Sea Cadets Corps, Earl Beatty considered, would be cf great benefit to the youth of New Zealand, both by encouraging an interest in sea life and imparting a knowledge of seamanship and, in a more general way, by promoting physical fitness, discipline and healthy patriotism, which expressed itself in service. The work of the corps was complementary to that of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, which lads might join when their cadet training was over.