THE BALANCE OF POWER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 962, 1 November 1910, Page 5

THE BALANCE OF POWER.

BRITAIN'S SMALL MARGIN. ADMIRAL MAHAN REVIEWS THE SITUATION. ONLY SALVATION FROM WAR. By Telegraph—Press Association-Oopyrieht. (Rec. October 31, 9.20 p.m.) London, October 31. Admiral Mahan, in an article ,in tho ''Daily Mail," says an examination of the international situation shows that the apparent balance of power of tho Triplo Allianco (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy) out-uiatcb.es the . Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, and Russia) on land. The real offset to the military power of the Triple Alliance is the financial resources of Britain and France and the British Navy, granted the continuance of tho present laws' of capture. The wonder is that intelligent Britishers should advocate . immunity from the incidence of war for 6eaborne coninicroe under the delusive definition of private property. [ Britain's command of the seas is the sole deterrent to war. Owing to the adoption of Dreadnoughts, Germany has entered the struggle for preponderance, and when the au,te-Dreadnoughts shall be confessedly obsolete Britain will have very little start against her, and the only salvation from war is Great Britain's readiness for war. GERMANY'S DREADNOUGHTS. A: VIENNESE ESTIMATE. Vienna, October 30. The newspaper "Neue Freie Presse" states if the building of the three German Dreadnoughts' is postponed, Germany will nevertheless in 1913 .possess eighteen, not thirteen,' Dreadnouglits, as compared with Britain's twenty-five. THE NEW BRITISH GUNS. A.GERMAN VIEW. . ' ' (Roc. October 31, 11.25 p.m.) Berlin, October 31. Thie'. Admiralty.. has furnished tho "Daily Mail" correspondent with an official communication which Etates that the instalment of tho 131-inch gun on the new British battleships has been received iu Germany with equanimity,' in view of the universal". confidence. in Germany's gun material. . t Wide sections of tho population in Germany regret the new step.along the path first trodden by England with the intro.duction of Dreadnoughts, since a higher ■cost of construction has been unavoidable. The Admiralty states that-it will have 20 vessels of the 1910 Budget ordered as usual, and they will bo completed in accordance with the Navy Law.

' THE GERMAN NAVY'S GUNS. Eeuter's correspondent in Berlin telegraphed in September: Captain Persius, in the "Kreuzzeitung," calls attention to the armament of the latest British superDreadnoughts with 13.5 in. . guns, and warns his. countrymen against over-con-fidonce in the superiority of the Krupp guns with which the German warships are armed. The greater, length,;of life of Krupp gun-barrels compared with those of British makers is a favourite theme with naval writers in Germany, and is regarded as an indisputable fact. This confidence is based on the circumstance that the British Admiralty considers it necessary to keep a reserve of barrels amounting to 24 per cent of the guns in,use in the' navy. Captain Persius points out that this merely represents the co-efficient of safety which one might desire that the German naval authorities would keep in mind.