THE COLONIES AND OBSOLETE WARSHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 829, 30 May 1910, Page 8

THE COLONIES AND OBSOLETE WARSHIPS.

DISCUSSION IN THE HOUSE OP LORDS.

In the House of Lords on March 31, Lord Brassoy called attention to the disposal of ships which may from time to time be removed from the effective list of the Navy, and suggested that all such ships as are efficient for port defence and gunnery training of colonial navies should be put in reserve for those services in colonial harbours. Earl Cawdbr (ex-First Lord of the Admiralty) stated that he was not aware that any request had been' made by the colonial Governments for vcsiels of the class described, and he doubted whether as a protective force for colonial harbours ships twenty or twenty-five years old were exactly what were required. In regard to a suggestion that old ships might be put into a proper condition for fighting purposes, considering tho large expenditure to which we were obliged to put ourselves he thought that money was better spent in providing ships of tho latest type than in spending the money on ships that were out of date. The Earl of Granard, speaking for the Government, said that the whole qucs-. tion was thoroughly considered at the late Imperial Conference. The Admiralty did not think that a stationary guardsliip of the old type was of any use in colonial harbours. Shore batteries, submarines, and torpedoes answered the purpose much better: The upkeep of one of these old battleships was certainly quite as much as. if not more than, but of a new one. What tlio Admiralty and tho colonial Governments required were ships that were modern and would be able to co-operate generally with tht fleet. Tho modern developments of gunnery did not favour tho view, either, that these old ships would be useful for gunnery schools, and as regarded commerce protection the old cruisers were perfectly useless to protect the commerce of this country, and would bo equally useless in colonial waters. Tf the dominions really wanted any of these ships they would have asked the Admiralty for them. New Zealand continued her monetary contribution on the condition iliaf the Imperial Navy should, station in her waters some submarines and destroyers,- which would be done in a very short time, and the Commonwealth had authorised tho construction of three protected cruisers, besides submarines and destroyers, and ono of these destroyers had been launched already. -As. far as the Board of Admiralty themselves were concerned, they did not think there was any prospect of usefully nsing jjld ships in tho way suggested. •'