HIS EXCELLENCY'S SPEECH

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12242, 16 June 1909, Page 8

HIS EXCELLENCY'S SPEECH

SOME GOOD ADVICE

" WELLINGTPN, Junelo. In presenting a.medal to aniAmokiira; boy to-day, Lord Pluiiket S{iid> he wished tp utter one; word e -df;criticisin.' Tlie^ Amdkura ~was very ■> Wercrowded^. .both?■ for officers arid boys. Another iiripor-1 tant omission was-the lack of room for sj, schoolmaster. , '"■■ Me. thought it was a thousand-pities that the boys should be denied this". aV.enue of; education, ; which often led to high positions in ,tlie Jiavy. - ;Spme arrankement& shptild -Be made, ■ said His Excellency, to overcome these defetts. A larger vessel might b& ] requisitioned, : : but this: would entail a much larger expense. Another Way out of the difliculty wa§ to follow the principles of training boys at Home. There I they had a school or college bri land, yfith a training ship iriwhich to d 6 the •praicticarwork; He might say. that 3he matter was engaging the ,very, earnest attention of Ministers. : His Excellency congratulated the officers and boys on the good.l report. He Urged them to remember they w;e*re the pioneers .of the' navy and mercantile marine of the Dominion, arid to acii always with ' that thought in mind, v . , ; ; .

The Minister for Marine (the.Hon. J. A. Millar) thanked His Exijellency. for the very close and whole-hearted interest he has evinced in the movement since its inception. He considered His Excellency should feel satisfied with the evidence before him that the formation' of the neueius of ; followers of the navy and mercantile maine in New Zealand had teen so successful. As regarded accommodation, the Minister agreed that the boat, though efficient^ was hot so suitable as it might be owing "to her smallness. The college scheme, with the boys drafted to the training ship was an excellent system1;; A'larger Vessel as adepot from which the boys could be drafted to the Amokiira for sea work might be expected in the future.