[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—The letter that you publish from " Vincet-Veritas" in the Spectator of June 24th is evidently written with the inten- tion of conveying to your readers the idea that the engineer offieers of the Navy have no duties to perform in connection with the engine-room staff when they are not employed on what I may term departmental work. Nothing can be further from the truth, and if your correspondent is a naval officer he must know it to be so. To make a long story short, it may at once be said that the whole of the duties in connec- tion with the engine-room ratings are "by arrangement" carried out by the officers and non-commissioned officers of the engine room staff, with the exception of the instruction that they receive in drills and the use of arms. It is this "by arrangement" method that is so strongly disliked by engineer officers; they may do all the drudgery in connection with their men's clothes, hammocks, mess-decks, bathrooms, Sze. ; they may bear in silence the curt faultfinding on Sunday morning when their divisions are inspected; but when it comes to parading the British sailor before an admiring public, then the engineer is relegated to the background, and only the favoured executive is allowed to appear as the hero of the Navy. The letter of " Vincet-Veritas" is a survival or revival of the old rancorous spirit that used to scowl upon the engineer when he ventured on the upper deck in daylight, and he was watched to see if he made black marks with his boots, so that he might be ordered below again to his dark den on the lower deck.—I am, Sir, &c.,
AN ENGINEER OFFICER.
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