GERMAN ARMAMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 703, 31 December 1909, Page 5

GERMAN ARMAMENTS.

v, NO SLACKENING. IDMD3AL BERESFOBD'S THREAT, v Telcgraph-3?ress Aseoctatlon-CoDyrißht Berlin, 'December 29. B Referring to tho rumour—which has on ofEc.ally denied in Gormany—tlwt i Anglo Gorman agreement had been & rived al to slacken naval development, )uncillor Paul Koch, tho principal ot adjutor of Admiral \on Tirpitz, Her- d< an Minister for Marine, declares it di ould bo beneath Germany's dignity to cc e her hands with England. "It will," tl 1 added, "be Germany's affair if she •" idens tho provision of tho present Navy t! aw." b German newspapers aro discussing with ° isapproval the groundless reports of a 'gotiations between Germany and Engnd with lcgard to tho reduction of P ■maments. # b London, December 29. u The "Daily Express" (Unionist) deares that the reports of an Angloerman agreement for tho slackening of b aval development were a blind for in- t , aencing tho British electors against the S monist campaign for a bigger nary. e Spoaking at Portsmouth, in support of 1 is Unionist candidature for that seat I irhero the Unionists were over 2000 votes s ehmd in 1006), Admiral Lord Charles * eresford complained that the Govern- I lent had not roplied to the allegations n iado by Mr. Mulhner, and added —"1 « now of several scandals as bad I havo ° iem sot out in black and while, nnd d ill publish them if forced to do so." r [Admiral Bercsford, who recently hreatened to defy the Official Srerets ft t*.'" responsible for tho statement , bat Mulliners, a Coventry firm, had in- 1( wmod the Admiralty in May, 1906, of C .ermanys accelerated shipbuilding, since B hich date tho firm had never received p n Admiralty order. Following on this, ; Ir. Hulhner, in a letter to the news^ apers, gave details of his alleged treat- J: lent by the Admiralty, and declared C pat the naval situation was never graver han at presont.] t TO WIDEN THE GERMAN NAVY * According to the Liberal newspaper, y Daily News," there is not likely to be D ny modification of the German Navy B *w, and the best courso is to aim at imitation of naval armaments as from he date of tho expiry of the law, 1917. Jot there is in Germany a strong section rhich would not only maintain tho Nnry * iatf programme unreduced, bnt *ould n fact expand if-. At the annual mpeting f tho German Navy Leaguo )ast June ociferpus applause preeted Admiral \on ' Vebfir's demonstration that the Navy J ..aw is capable of much further expan- j '"n. and .might easily be made to cover . batch oi now InvmeiWes (Dreadnought- , raisers in which Britain leads) ( An elaboration of this lino of argumont ' s to bo found m a prior speech by no ( ess an authority than Grand Admiral i on who stated that commitce of the German Navy League did not • 1 J 51 , r ,° "J, Pwsont to go beyonu the hmits f the Navy Law. Bnt they would do ill they possibly could to secure the (instruction of all tho ships for which he Navy Law mado provision, to main am equality with other Powers in regard o power and speed of tho ships, to obain for"the cmiser question" the atteuton which it deservccl, and to guarantee i he possession at any moment of "the lecessary number of thoroughly efficient ' ■rtiwrs ' "These statements," comments the Bcr-' ' in correspondent of "The Times," "may i io taken to mean that tho committee of . ho Navy League has postponed, but by io ( means abandoned, tho programme Thich was outlined in a circular letter o tho members of the league last nutumii. U regards fulfilment of the provisions >f ths Navy Law, the Navy League's Tiam demand is for the early construction if tho seventeenth battloship of the first ' ioublo squadron of the High Sea Fleet. Vs regards 'the cruiser question,', the , Navy League i 9 of opinion that 'the limits )f the Navy Law' might well embrnco dx more large armoured cruisers, because iix out of the 20 large cruisers provided iy the Navy Law are being trod for special purposes, and are thus withdrawn irom tner proper sphere of activity."