The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAT 22, 1912. THE DOMINIONS & THE NAVY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1446, 22 May 1912, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAT 22, 1912. THE DOMINIONS & THE NAVY.

It is already clear beyond all doubt that when he made, his impressive appeal to the Dominions to comfi to the aid of the Motherland in bearing the burden of naval defence Mn. Churchill shook a bougu of ripe fruit. What a change has taken place even since 1909, when the naval "scare" seemed to have brought the Empire to a fair and square confronting of its naval problem ! It was possible then for our Dreadnought gift to be accepted as the highest possibility of Imperial naval co-operation; for the New Zealand policy of subsidies to receive applause in quite respectable quarters as after all the only policy; for thc\stationing of our Dreadnought in China waters to be approved of by the Admiralty. The fact is, of course, that it is only within the past few months that Imperial thought on the naval programme has emerged from fog. Up till 1909 the record of inter-Imperial negotiations upon the question of naval co-opera-tion was a record of changes, hesitations, reversals of policy. i\ r o doubfc this was duo in part to the influence on one hand of colonial politicians who, when not insincere, were unable to take a long view and a broad view of the Empire's naval necessities, and, on the other hand, of English statesmen unwilling to break witn the tradition that colonial opinion should bo riot only humoured, but left scrupulously unaided by comment or suggestion. Mn. Churchill's installation at the Admiralty has changed all this: he has no scruples about being frank, even if it involves that shocking thing, a grave reminder to the Dominions of their real obligations. AYith the death-knell of the policy of rigid ceremony and etiquette has been sounded, we trust, the closing-hour for pompous rhetoric and colonial irresponsibility. So far as New Zealand is concerned, we cannot seo that our country can any longer acquiesce in the policy of small subsidy which Sin AVaud, who of course could harSfe have been expected to know very much of the psychology of Empire or of the larger problems of Empire, has so persistently defended. IMie inception accorded to Mr. Churchill's speech gives qiiaintness to the fact that the ex-Prime Minister's ideas were once actually extolled and that the critics o? them were once actually derided !

What is New Zealand going to do s What shave is she going to take in the new "naval division of, libour" ' These are .question of immediate

practical importance, and they must bo faced. Headers of The Dominion, of course, are quite familiar with the idea that our nava! responsibility should be one of our largest financial obligations, but wo arc afraid that our friends on the other side in politics have never troubled to think, having never been encouraged by their leaders to think, of our naval responsibility as a thing.of vital national importance. In our new political conditions, however, there is room for hopefulness that this nation as a whole can be guided into realising that the petty jobbery and spoilseeking and spoil-sharing and parochialism of our last decade must be shed like soiled clothing. During this month the movement for Imperial co-operation on a sound basis will be helped forward by the conference in London between representatives of tho British and Canadian Governments. It was rumoured last month that the Canadian Government would immediately invite tenders for the building of two super-Dread-noughts and at,the samo time press for the creation of an Imperial squadron to be controlled by an Imperial Board of Admiralty on which all the Dominions would be represented. The Qucbec Chronicle gave out this report as tho definite policy of the Borden Government, but an official dementi came at oncc. Nothing is certainly known excepting that finality in the Government's plan will not ho readied until after the conference in London this month. Mr. J. Norton Griffiths, M.P.— who happened t<p be in Qucbec when the Ckroniclc printed its statement— was reported by cable last Saturday to have put tho question plainly to Mr. Churchill whether ho would consult the Dominions on the advisableness of creating an Imperial Admiralty Board with a view of entho formation of an Imperial flying squadron; but Mr. Churchill naturally excused himself from giving a reply. The only logical ground which can be taken by an opponent of the policy of local naval action in the interests of an Empire fleet is that a joint navy might open the way to the application of the fetters of Imperial federation. Strangely enough, Sir Joseph Ward opposed local naval action, and yet advocated Imperial Federation ! But a joint navy need not at all lead towards Federation, 'any more than the necessity for joint naval action by Franco and Britain is ccrtain to lead towards a political marriage,of the two Powers. There is opening, before us the prospect of an Imperial Navy which will uc free from the disadvantage either of the "hcn-and-'chicken" policy to which New Zealand has been tied, or of tho policy of purely local fleets for the purpose of purely local patrols. Now Zealand must bo ready to fall into line. The appeal of Mn. Churchill must be responded to— not just because it is a line thing to niakc the Empire artistic and harmonious, but because the hard facts of international politics make response essential to the actual safety of the Empire. It will cost lis much money, but certainly nothing more than a fraction of the money that it would cost us if we had to live right up to the Imperialist rhetoric that so many of our public men have contributed to the Empire's defence in lieu of guns and ships and men.