THE NAVAL SITUATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1049, 11 February 1911, Page 4

THE NAVAL SITUATION.

Many sound reasons exist for regretting that tho British Admiralty

—its spending, its works programme, and' its general policy—cannot be placed altogether outside the arena of English party politics. ~ The truth ,ia obvious that Parliament has a right to know where the people's money goes, and. a right to the assurance that. all. is well with the; Navy.. AndVcqually obvious, is the' fact_ that,' .frequently, it would be suicidal to publish to tho world the ;preciso information demanded by members-of tho' House of Commons. Tho House, of Lords seems to apprc-. hond the situation in which the Admiralty first, and after it, the Government, stand, with respect to publicity, far more clearly than do certain members of tho,House of Commons. Barely do, the Peers interrogate members of .the Ministry to the point of exhaustion and incidentally provide all tho. great Naval Powers of tho-world with full, accurate, and up-to-date' information concernirig.the present condition and future plans of tho British Navy. Tho recent publication of Blue Books and memoranda bearing on the history of. tho 'Admiralty. during the last thrce.ycars supplies a miiltitu'do of facts of an 'assuring character touching the all-sufficiency of ' the : British Navy. Ofjatc years, the-' naval position of different European countries has. been subjected to an almost continuous process of change and Great Britain, according to the Blue Books,mhas, ,beea„nUvetto the altered conditions,. met thorn, kept paco with them, -and retained intact tho supremacy of. the , Navy. In the provision of .funds for the Navy" tho" Unionist Government of Lord Salisbury, and that of Mr, Balfour, set an example which the Liberals have not over-willingly followed. Since, the formation, in De,comber, 1005,! of tho Caiipdell-Ban-.nerjian Ministry tho spirit,of hag-, gling and of parsimony. has not been absent, but wisdom has eventually prevailed. For tho people of New ; Zealand tho' Blue Books,' to which we have alluded, possess more than a passing interest.; -' Most' of.''■ lis ' retain fairly vivid. recollections of the "crisis" period of the time when our Promier,, moved by, the. debates in the Homo, Parliament, cabled 'to tho British Government offering, in the name of tho-New Zealand Government,' "at least ono (and two, if necessary) first-class battleship." Later, came Sir Joseph Ward's mysterious and Alarming information about tho state of ureat Britain, information which the country was led to understand had been obtained in confidence from high authority. Now,-official information, at last available,' will enable the public to fully realise tho true position ■ in England at tho \'cry timo of Sir JosErn WARDVimaginary crisis and his vory, real and substantial cablo messages.', ''Excubitor,"... a,. wellknown writer on naval subjects,' conveniently presents tho gist of tho official publications in an excellent article published .in tho December Fortninntly Review. Let us begin with the famous speech of Lord Fisher, then-the First Sea Lord, dolivcred'at the Lord Mayor's banquet, after his: reforms in the Navy had taken effect. "Our object," ho said, "has been the fighting efficiency of the fleet, and its instant readiness for war, and we have got it, and I say it because no one can havo a fuller knowledge than myself about it,|and I speak with tho fullest sense of responsibility. So I turn to all of you, and I. turn to my countrymen when I say: 'Sleep quietly in your beds and do not be disturbed by mere bogeys—invasion or otherwise—which aro being ■ l periodically resuscitated by-all sorts of leagues'." A few months later Lord Fisher might have added that, such bogeys were .also resuscitated by some sorts of Premiers. Tho ■ explanation • is that Lord Fisher knew what was being dono by tho Admiralty, and the public did not; just. as,, in March,- 1009, tho British Government wcro aware of their strong position, while tho_ general public, including Sir Joseph Ward, were ignorant of the real situation. Hero a point is reached when the truth becomes known that tho Admiralty and tho Government must often submit in silence to hostile criticisms and to wild attacks on thoir capacity, rathor than satisfy . tho alarmists at the cost of unfolding to foreign rivals particulars of all that is being done in tho British dockyards and arsenals. With tho facts of 1003 and 1909 boforo. us, it is mado very clear that,. if a crisis then existed, it was unknown to tho Admiralty and to tho Government. In 1008 Germany accelerated her naval programme and, about tho samo time, began tho manufacture of a now gun intended.to supersede the 11-inch weapon then carried .by her latest armoured ships. This new weapon was tho 12.2 inch gun, with a shell of 0811b.,-whereas, then British ships had 12-inch guns' with a shell of only 850lb. The British Admiralty asked Parliament for four large armoured ships, to be laid down at earlier dates than usual, in 1000, and tho programme likewise included the' much-debated four - "contingent'- shirks, But that was

not all. When Krupp began manufacturing the 12.2 guns, the British Admiralty had actually completed the experimental trials of a 13.5-inch gun, discharging a shell of 12501b. The tests were successful, and, apparently were unknown to Germany seeing that the Teschenbush der Krieijs Flatten of 1910 represented the British ships as having mounted tho older and smaller weapons. Already Germany is hastening to produce more powerful guns, but not a single German ship ailoat or under construction, according to "Excubitor," will ever carry them, while beforo April this year, _ eleven of Britain's greatest fighting giants will carry the new and powerful weapons. Facts such as these indicate how little justification there, was fdr the alleged 1909 crisis.