DOMINION NAVIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1608, 27 November 1912, Page 7

DOMINION NAVIES.

THEIR USE IN THE NORTH SEA. VIEWS OF "THE TIMES." By. Tcleeraph-Press Assoc'laOon-Copyrlght - (Rec, November 27, 0.25 a.m.) London, November 26, Mr. Arthur Lee, M.P.,' in a letter to "The Times,"'suggests that the naval con-tri>.itt6as,.by-.th«.-fi°taimoiiß and depend- ' the.Empire should be.utilised to T' ■ t' lo . gap, between . the two-keels-to-one. *-andard .and the' sixty per' cent, margin which, the Government has already adopt"The Times" interprets .Mr., Lee's suggestion as a hundred per cent, superiority in.moderij'-first-class armoured ships over . the next naval Power, and urges that it is not sound strategy, to use the North Sea standards as; a;.universal Imperial criterion. :It would better • for Britain alone to meet all the European needs, while.the ships.contributed;by the Dom- . iniohs; and 1 dependencies /Were earmarked. for service elsewhere.' A conference should bo .'called to, decide, the matter immedi-. ately. NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA. ' . Sydney, November'2s. ' the appointment';<'f a'RearAdmiral to the China station, Mr. Pearce, Minister for Defence,, considers ,that the suggested interpretation—that the Admiral onl.the Australian station. .' will have supreme command—will. be. very ( satisfactory to Australia if correct. ' Referring.to .co-operation.: in.. defence . matters . with: Now Zealand, .Mr. Pearce says, that /hitherto • only . informal semi- ; private 'communiijationsj-had passed,- but he . 'expected ■' eomethiny ■ more >. formal 6hortlj\ - ; .'■■ ' INSPECTION OF ■ THE TORCH. London, November 25. • In the House of Commons, Mr. Wineton Churchill, First Lord of tho " Ad- . miralty, in : reply. : to, a -question, .by Lord Charles Beresford (Ifnicinist); said' he hoped to receive within "a 4 month' a report regarding, the. failure to inspect the sloop Torch on; the Australian, station. ;