COLONIALS IN THE NAVY

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1931, Page 11

COLONIALS IN THE NAVY

GREAT APTITUDE SHOWN. KEEN AND QUICK TO LEARN. It is sometimes said that routine and discipline are irksome to a New Zealander; but the experience of the Navy proves definitely that this is not the case, says the Auckland Star. Youths from this Dominion have shown that they are extraordinarily apt in adapting themselves to the conditions they meet there. They are keen and quick to learn. In a field gun crew they have learned in a week what would occupy a class in England for three weeks or a month. “The New Zealander, as much as anybody else in the world, realises that no ■big concern can run without strict attention to detail,” says one observer. “Absolute obedience to orders is essential, and there must be a feeling that all are working to a common end. What that common end really amounts to is to produce ratings of high moral, of good professional knowledge, and with tho ability to maintain the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy at a tip-top standard.” With the British Navy as small as it is to-day, every officer and man has to exert himself to the utmost in his endeavour to produce a highly-efficient unit, to which each member of the ship’s company is responsible for a small part. New Zealanders are now filling with success several of the higher positions in the Navy. After a period of early training here, they have gone Home for advanced courses in gun and torpedo instruction, and they have come back to join up with the cruisers Diomede and Dunedin, or the Philomel. While at Home they have served for a time in the Royal Navy. Many of those who were recruited in the early years of the New Zealand Division are now married. Some of the English officers and ratings who have come out for service have married New Zealand girls, and some, desiring to make there permanent homes here, have been transferred to the New Zealand Division for the balance of their service. They find their economic position somewhat changed, and all remark upon the higher rents; but certain articles like meat and butter are cheaper. Much care is used by the Admiralty authorities in selecting 'men for service in the New Zealand Division; and the people of this Dominion do their part by giving the naval men a generous welcome into their homes.