THE DANGER OF BUILDING AHEAD.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 462, 22 March 1909, Page 5

THE DANGER OF BUILDING AHEAD.

RATE OP OBSOLESCENCE. ■ FIRST DREADNOUGHT'S LEGACY. (Rco. March 21, 4.30 p.m.) London, March 20. Many Ministerialist speeches have- been delivered in the provinces. Mr. Rnnciman (president of tho Board of Education) declared that it would bo folly to luild for many years ahead. He regretted tho construction of tho first Dreadnought. Tho Master of Elibank (tho Hon. A. W. Murray, Liberal M.P. for Peebles and Selkirk) said that tho first Dreadnought had led to tho present wild competition, for which the Conservatives must bear the blame. Nevertheless, tho Liberals were determined to maintain the superiority of tho Navy at all costs. Mr. C. P. Trevelyan (Liberal M.P. for' Elland division of Yorkshire) said tho country was on the verge of a panic, that had been stimulated by exaggeration. , Lieutenant-Colonel Seely (Under-Secretary for tho Colonies) remarks: If tho Dreadnought ia beaten, we still have other war rcssols. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT. AN ATTACK. (Rec. March 21, 4 p.m.) London, March 20: Admiral C. C. Penrose Fitzgerald (formerly second in command of tho China station) angrily demands what the Naval Intelligence Department has been doing to be unaware of Germany's spurt till mouths later. lanother VERSION. London, March 19. The Berlin correspondent of the "Standard" reports that Mr. Asquith has mado tho statement that tho Admiralty ascertained what had happened in German shipyards almost immediately after tho German battleships had been begun. This was an unpleasant surprise for the German authorities, who had no idea that its secrets had been, so inefficiently guarded, elaborate precautions having previously been taken to conceal the extent of the shipbuilding operations. INQUIRY INTO ADMIRALTY ASKED FOR. London, March 19. A number of Peors and Commoners havo signed a requisition asking Mr. Asquith, l'rimo Ministor, to hold an inquiry regarding tho administration of tho Admiralty. Meetings havo been organising in the city and in Liverpool in connection with the naval crisis. GERMANS WORKING NIGHT AND DAY. WILHELMSHAFEN. NO NON-ACCELERATION ASSURANCE. (Rec. March 21, 4.30 p.m.) London, March 20. Berlin papers publish details of night and day operations in tho extension of tho naval works at Wilhclnisliafen, and declare that within a few months that port will supersede Kiel. All tho Dreadnoughts and Invincible* now under construction will bo stationed at Wilholmshafcn. Count Roventlow, German . naval expert, states that Mr. Asquith it iii error regardjug Garniaay's that sho will not

accelerate licr naval construction. Count Rovontlow boasts that Germany's shipbuilding is capable- of moro rapid progress. Prince von Billow (Chancellor) and tho German Minister for Foreign Affairs (Horr von Schocn) refused to attend a meeting of tho Budget Committee, members of which wero demanding nu explanation of tho discrepancies between tho statements of tlio German Secretary of tho Navy (Admiral von Tirpitz) and of tho British First Lord of tho Admiralty (Mr. M'Kenna) regarding Germany's rate of naval construction.