The head of the Naval Medical Department had evidently been making strong representations about the Britannia, and his evidence is rather that of a faddist who is determined that nothing can be right about the ship or the place. Certain figures on which he had partially based his objections were found to be erroneous, and this was pointed out to him, but he stuck manfully to his guns notwithstanding.
The committee found that the cadets excel in manly sports, and more than hold their own in cricket against school elevens of older boys.
Constant reference is made to the desirability of having a college on shore, and most of the witnesses are in favour of it, while a few, rather of the “old sea-dog” type, advocate sending boys straight to sea without any previous training.
The recommendation of the committee is that the cadets spend three years in the college, broken by two trips in a sea-going training ship.
Their reason for recommending the introduction of Latin is that by giving a few hours a week to it an intelligent boy, reasonably well grounded on entry, would at the age of fifteen be able to read Cæsar, Horace, and Virgil without effort, and that this would be a source of pleasure to him in after years; but this appears to be a purely academic and unpractical view; it might apply to a boy here and there, but certainly not to the generality, and some better reason is needed for its introduction.
One of the recommendations of the committee has been tardily adopted in the last year or so, viz. the institution of a board by whom all candidates should be approved before being permitted to undergo the examination; they think that defects which are not discoverable by an educational test might be patent to such a committee.
CAPTAIN THE HON. F. A. C. FOLEY.
Photo: Smale & Son, Dartmouth.
Captain Foley, who was appointed in August, 1871, appears to have set about improving the sanitary condition of the ship in a very thorough fashion, and not before it was needed. By clearing out the ballast in some places, and by a rearrangement of the structure of the bilges, he had arrived at a very satisfactory result, which is highly approved by the committee.