In the debate on the Navy Estimates on Wednesday the
question of democratizing the selection of officers was raised by Mr. Hugh Edwards. He appealed to the Admiralty to do more for poor boys by establishing bursaries at Osborne and Dartmouth and making merit rather than money the main avenue into the Service. Mr. Barnes, the Labour Member, in seconding the motion, declared that what they ought to do was so to reduce the fees as to enable selection to be made of the best brains in the whole community. Mr. kfacnamara, in reply, maintained that the careful inquiry he had made into the circumstances of the twelve hundred naval cadets entered in the last five years showed that, as a rule, their parents were not rich people. Under the present system any British citizen could send his son up as a candidate for a cadetship, but he admitted that the fees rather seriously restricted the area of selection, though twenty-five per cent, of the candidates could now enter at reduced fees. Mr. Macnamara made out a fairly good case for the existing rigime, but, in view of the closing down of Keyham and his admissions as to the fees, it could not be regarded as a satisfactory answer to the main contention of Mr. Barnes, that the area of selection is unduly restricted by financial considerations.
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