5 APRIL 1913, Page 3

The naval correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazelle has some

interesting comments in Monday's issue on the report of the Custance Committee. The report, it is understood, is sub- stantially favourable to the system of education pursued at Osborne and Dartmouth, the only adverse recommendation being that, when lieutenants have once decided to specialize in engineering, they should be engineers for life. But the most interesting recommendation is that a certain number of scholarships should be given to cadets deserving of entry to Osborne. The alternative—that of reducing the expenditure for all at a cost of some 2100,000—is favoured by Mr. Churchill, and, on the face of it, seems the best way of securing the pick of the nation for the naval service, irrespective of social status. But such a system is open to serious criticism, while that of a limited number of scholarships is not.