WEALTHY OR WISE?
SIR,—The Admiralty recently took the unusual course of publishing a committee's report on the entry of naval cadets in order to obtain public reaction to the proposals. The report sent a wave of despondency through the ranks of those who hoped that the committee would not be deflected from their object—to suggest the best method of producing an efficient corps of naval officers—by political considera-
tions, but the most disturbing feature of the proposals seems to have escaped the notice of the critics. That proposal is that, after two years' training to become naval officers, cadets should be free to abandon their naval career and go back to school.
It is claimed that this accords with modern ideas; if this claim is well-founded it connotes that the character and outlook of the younger generation have in a few years changed to such an extent that this release clause is
necessary to attract boys to the Navy. I joined the Britannia in 1895 with 70 other boys. We represented a cross-section of our generation; the one common denominator was that none of our parents were in the upper income group. Neither in the Britannia nor in the wardrooms and gunrooms, in which I, lived until promoted to Captain, did I ever hear grumbling about the meagreness of the pay, comparisons with better-paid contempor- aries on shore, discussions about pensions and what to do if passed over for promotion. We lived for the day. But letters to the Press on the Admiralty committee's proposals invariably stress the material aspect—pay, prospects, security—and never mention that a boy joining the Navy will have a life worth living.
Thi§ is symptomatic of a malaise that afflicts the whole country. 1 constantly hear of young men and women who have worked hard to enter a profession for which they feel they have a bent and in which they would find a happy life and are persuaded to abandon everything for far less congenial work because the pay is higher and there is greater security. If this trend continues unchecked, it will inflict a permanent scar on the character of our race. But it will not be checked so long as public authorities and parents inculcate the younger generation with the pernicious doctrine that nothing counts but money and security.
The release clause suggested by the Admiralty's committee deliberately aggravates the prevailing malaise by telling boys at the outset of a career of their own choice that they are free tb abandon that career when they wish. This might be less harmful if the decision rested solely with the boy, but, in many cases, it will be the parents, obsessed with pay, prospects and security, who will be the dominant influence:—Yours faithfully, WILLIAM JAMES Admiral (Retd.)
The Road Farm, Churl, Surrey
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