FOREIGN NAVAL SCHOOLS. The naval school of Argentina is at Buenos Ayres. The age at date of admission is fourteen to seventeen years and the course is four years. The instruction is very good in theoretical branches, but the practical nautical exercises are very few.
The greater part of the executive officers of the A uslro-Hungariun navy are graduates of the naval academy at Fiume: the others are appointed pro visionally and serve in the fleet until able to pass a satisfactory examination. The age at date of ad mission to the academy is fourteen to sixteen years. The course is four years, three months of every year being spent on board a practice ship. There are also gunnery training schools, torpedo schools, and sailing training vessels for men and boys.
The executive officers of the Brazilian navy are recruited from the graduates of the naval school at Rio de Janeiro. The limits of age at entrance to the academy are thirteen and seventeen years and the course is three years. The graduates are transferred to the naval college (Rio de .Janeiro) for an additional course of four years.
There is a naval academy for the education of officers of the Chilean navy at Valparaiso. The course is six years, previoes•to which the cadet must have completed three years at the military academy at Santiago.
There is a naval school for the instruction of officers in the chines(' navy at Nanking, but only a part of the officers are educated there. It may he said that in the appointment of officers, as in everything connected with the navy, there is no system. 'Ihc• course at the academy is four to six years.
In Denmark, each year there are ten admis sions to the naval school for officers, situated at Copenhagen. The candidates must be from fifteen to twenty years of age and have served nine months in the navy or eighteen months in the merchant marine. After a preliminary cruise of three mouths they are reexamined and six of the ten selected, the others being discharged. The course of instruction is four years.
The training of officers and men for the French navy is undergoing some changes. The principal naval schools are the Polytechnic School (partly naval), Naval School, superior training school for executive officers, training school for engineer offi cers, medical, torpedo. machinist, gunnery, and ord nance schools. The naval school proper is on the
old line-of-battle ship Border at Brest. The re quirements for entrance are high, and the range of subjects quite wide. The age at entrance is from fourteen to eighteen years. The course is two years. After completing the course at the naval school the cadets are promoted to aspirants second class. and sent on board a cruising training ship where their instruction is continued for a year. They are then promoted to aspirants first class and their training ceases. The school for engineers is a school of engine design and construction. The medical schools are three in number and are located at Brest. Rochefo•t, and Toulon. The course of study is two years. The torpedo, gun ner•, and ordnance schools are for the practical and theoretical education of those officers who incline to become specialists. The machinist school is for the training of warrant and petty officers of this branch for higher grades.
The German naval academy is located at Kiel. The candidates for admission must not be more than seventeen years old and mast possess cer tificates of qualification for the upper classes of a royal high school (Realgymnasium), or pass an examination in the equivalent subjects. After entering they receive• four weeks' practical in struction on shore; the cadets are then sent on board a cadet training ship and pass the winter abroad. Upon their return in the spring they are examined and, if qualified, promoted to en sign (Fdlwrich zur see). They are then em barked for another full year's course of practical training and theoretical and practical instruction on one of the cadets' and boys' training ships. The young ensigns are then transferred to the naval academy for one year's course of theoretical instruction. At the close of the year the prin cipal examination takes place; after which the ensigns are sent for half a year to the gunnery and torpedo ships and to the marine infantry school for special practical and theoretical courses in gunnery. torpedo, and infantry in struction. After this they are examined, and upon passing are sent for two years' practical training on board battleships or large cruisers; but they are promoted to lieutenant (Lieutenant 'ur see) at the end of the first year.