TWO-POWER TEST.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 152, 21 March 1908, Page 5

TWO-POWER TEST.

NAVAL DEBATE IN THE LORDS,

nOSYTH BASIN. TO BE COMPLETED IN SEVEN YEARS. BY TELEGRAPH —MESS ASSOCIATION—COPTMGHT London, March 19. - In the Houso of Lords, Earl Cawdor, who was first Lord of the Admiralty in the Balfour Administration, criticised tlio Admiralty policy. Ho urged acceleration with regard to tho building of ,d naval basin at Rosyth, and insisted that it was necessary that-Great Britain should maintain her unassailable supremacy against any two of t-ho'greatest naval Powers.

Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the Admiralty, replied that Mr. Asquith's recent declaration regarding tho ; two-Power standard was most decisivo. In 1911 no combination of two first-class Powers would bo equal to Britain's strength. . lie preferred a standard equal to that of any reasonable probable combination of foreign Powers. . '

Lord Tweedmouth added that he hoped to finish the work: at Rosyth in seven years. Unionist newspapers describe Lord Tweedmouth's conception iof the two-Power standard as absolutely unsafo and untenable, inasmuch as the attitude of a foreign Power must always be liable to unforeseen changes. LORD TWEEDMOUTH EXPLAINS. ' (Rec. March.2o,; 10.25 p.m.) • ■ . London, March 20. Lord Tweedmouth lias written to Lord Cawdor explaining that his words " any reasonably . probable combination of foreign l Powers" wero intended-as an extension, not" a restriction, of tho two-Power standard. LACK OF QIC DOCKS. . BONUS TO ACCELERATE ROSYTH - BASIS ROOM AT GIBRALTAR, (Rec. March 20, 10.25 .p.m.) London, March 20. Mr. Geo. Lambert, Civil Lord of tho Admiralty, speaking in the"'House 'of " Commons, said that the Admiralty had promised tho contractors a bonus if tlioy accelerated", the completion of tho Rosyth Basin. He stated that two docks at Gibraltar were capablo of taking Dreadnoughts. /-, "'/■ A DEFINITION. " • The Unionist papers apparently object to Lord TweedmouthV-preference for a standard equal to. that of any "reasonably, probable combination of foreign Powers,"; instead ,of "any .combination of two Powers."';' 1 - The two-Power standard, according to Lient. Carlyori Bellairs, MM 1 ., a naval authority, has been defined by successive Cabinets to mean that "the. annual shipbuilding programme should be'; framed, so as to give ,the - British Navy' a margin/of superiority," over the two strongest naval Powers lin the' number of efficient armoured ships intended to be used as' battleships, : ; together", - .'with " such :"'"V superiority in tho number of efficient cruisers as 'will.' enable them: adequately to ; perform their as , scouts/ look-out' vessels,-- "and -bommeree" defenders in a war .with-the two strongest , naval Powers." \' '