THE AMOKURA.

Observer, Volume XXXII, Issue 20, 27 January 1912, Page 2

THE AMOKURA.

A Strange Tale of the Sea.

WE have been placed in possession of certain statements concern-

ing the Amokura, the training ship, in which some sixty or seventy boys perennially receive instruction in nautical affairs. The Marine Department, as is pretty generally known, is very careful and considerate of the welfare of all privatelyowned vessels trading in New Zealand waters. But if. the statements made to us are accurate, the Department would be well-advised to set its own house in order before it finds fault with the houses of others. In this respect, however, the Government has incurred no small amount of culpability. It has passed Acts involving a vast increase in annual .expenditure on the part of employers, in the shape of increases in wages to the employee j and yet there ie probably no more underpaid individual than the average Government tradesman. However, to return to the Amokura. The statements made to us emanate from an ex-instructor on that vessel. His first allegation is bo the effect that the ship ie-in a bad state of repair and that her decks are

leaking, with the result that the hammocks and bedding of the boys frequently become wet through. The navigation lights are also alleged tobe faulty. Our informant states that there is hardly one that does not leak or has not the glass broken. The mess-deck lights, he alleges, consist bf "hurricane" lamps, most of which leak. On the same authority we are informed that the anchor light was broken some time ago, and, the stern light had to be utilised for the purpose ; but this does niot show as there was no other to replace it, an all-round light, nor is it a proper regulation light.

But the most serious allegation made \& that concerning the ship's boats. Of these there are six —-2 lifeboats, 2 whalers, a skiff, and a dinghy. Of these, according to our informant, one whaler is all that could be desired ; the other leaks like a sieve ; while the lifeboats, although seaworthy craft, are in such a position that when the ship is at sea they cannot be launched in much less than an hour. Assuming the veracity of these statements, it is easy to see to what a caastrophe they might give rise should -an accident occur, such as a collision or a fire ; probably entailing the loss of some seventy lives. We understand that this apparent defect has been reported to the Department, but that the results were purely negaive, and that no steps were taken to remedy a condition of affairs, which, if it existe, is a standing menace to the whole ship's company.

As regards the ship's stores, the assertion is that economy takes precedence of efficiency. There are tales of sails only partly bent, a broken jib-boom, a sponson stove-in and no running-gear rove. In this connection, the matter of broom-handles is worthy of mention. These, our informant asserte, were urgently wanted but were not forthcoming ; but he'states that when the ship arrived at the Bluff, the chief officer took four or five boys ashore and cut manuka broomsticks. This, presumably, was to save expense to the Department. In another instance, when the ship was some seven days out from Wellington, it is stated that she ran short of kerosene, and that she was steaming at sea at night with insufficient navigation lights, and that it was only through a concession on the part of the chief engineer that any kerosene was forthcoming for lighting purposes. .

The food supplied is stated to be fair, but in one case it is alleged that while the vessel was journeying down South, a halt was made at Picton, and there sufficient bread was taken in to last for nine days. The bread, our informant states, was not anything to brag about in the first place, and the boat had not gone far before it became sour and bluemouldy. The assertion is also made that the boys , cocoa was bad, and that, as a consequence, they had to report to the water-tank for liquids W ith which to wash down their breakfast and tea ; and it is further stated that in this self-same water a pudding had been boiled on the previous day. A nice, delectable beverage to serve out to youngsters-or to oldsters either, for the matter of that.

The Marine . Department is responsible for the management of the Amokura, and the Marine Department is primarily responsible for any defects in the administration of the, vessel's affairs. We cast do doubt upon the efficiency of the vfiicers, but we have experienced enough of Departmental red-taping to assume that the said officers are working under difficulties that are beyond their own control. If only one scintilla of the statements made to us is correct, the matter is deserving of a searching investigation. Training ships do not hold too good a reputation in Australasian waters. 'P-β Commonwealth training ship Sobraon is a case in point. Anyway, when it comes to allegations concerning leaky fcoats, deficient stores and ooner dnsib" : t"os, these allegations are surely of being made "ac subject ot v qi iiy.