The _Times_ opens the ball with a leader on September 30th, 1891, in which it is roundly asserted that such doings are only possible in the _Britannia_--a crude sort of statement, and only permissible after a very thorough investigation. "Wykehamist," eager to disparage the _Britannia_ as compared with public schools, joins in the same strain, though goodness knows there have been gruesome tales told of these from time to time. He says, with some truth, that the difference in age between the cadet captains and the other boys is too slight, and that supervision by superiors is the only safeguard. The cadet corporals were still in existence at this time, and it is quite easy to conceive that if these were lax some evil-disposed cadets might initiate bullying and other practices of a worse nature without much chance of their reaching the captain's ears, at any rate for a considerable time. The principal indictment was to the effect that the elder cadets "fagged" the younger for money, that this was constantly extorted by means of menaces and cruel treatment; and there is no doubt that it was true, though probably not practised to the extent which was alleged by some. "E." says that where bullying exists it is entirely the captain's fault. Let a suitable captain be appointed, and remain as long as his services are not required elsewhere, and let him select his own junior officers. This is all very well, but there are many who hold the view that it is not desirable to keep one man too long in command, and certainly there are not wanting instances where, in similar institutions, a long period under one command has resulted in "grooviness" and a sort of fool's paradise, to be rudely exposed by an energetic successor. "A. L. M."--an old _Britannia_ boy--says that in his time a cadet was dismissed for "fagging" a junior to steal a letter containing a money order; this, however, cannot but be regarded as a flagrant instance of individual depravity such as may be encountered in any school. If the initials of the writer are genuine, his time in the training-ship goes back a long way, somewhere in the 'sixties. He appears to hold a poor opinion of the cadets of those days, and says the captains were as bad as the rest. On October 14th Admiral Sir Nowell Salmon and "Through the Mill" come to the rescue, and stoutly defend the _Britannia_, pointing out that, judging from the officers eventually turned out, the ship cannot be a sink of iniquity such as is represented, and that bullying will always go on to a certain extent among a number of boys. On the 17th the editor of the _Western Morning News_, who appears to be particularly anxious to show up the _Britannia_ in an unfavourable light, replies that "Through the Mill" takes much too rosy a view of the matter, and that fagging and bullying go on to an extent which would not be tolerated in any public school.