The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1913. NEW ZEALAND AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1654, 22 January 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1913. NEW ZEALAND AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

[t is a little to be regretted—but it is not really of much consequence —that in some, quarters the Gov r eminent, is being attacked, in an unenlightened spirit of'. partnership, for not slamming down on the table a final and.unalterable naval policy. For our part, wo cannot see' how Mr; Massey can make.any political capital for himself, or how his enemies can make any political Capital against him, in this matter. ■„ The position is that within , the last couple of years, and particularly within the last couple of months, the whole Imperial naval problem has been in a state of continuous and fundamental change. The important declaration of Canada's' policy has given the problem an entirely new setting. Prior to Mr. Borden's declaration our Government could without very great difficulty, have committed the country, to a definite policy;' but that declaration has shifted the centre of gravity of the .whole question. Australia's policy is'fixed, and now Canada's policy is fixed for some time to come,-and the two ' policies are different in principle. Australia.stands for a local navy, and. the Canadian Government has announced.the policy of. a largo material ■■„(as distinct from a cash) contribution to the British Navy, with certain conditions attached, the effect of which is that Canada shall have a- voice in the defence policy of the Empire. In the circumstances Mr. James Allen cannot move on behalf of his Government until he has fully consulted the Admiralty. To the man in the street it is obvious that the whole question of Imperial defence is in a state of flux; to -the attentive ; student of tho problem of Imperial naval defence, this is a very worrying fact. We have all witnessed a gallant attempt by the political leaders of the Empire to solve quickly a problem not. less,large in some respects, and far. larger in other respects, than the problem of.establishing the Empire itself. The Empire we have today tooka century to create; and it was a long, leisurely and easy problem thai almost solved itself. The present problem—which is to establish a naval Empire that will be efficient on the waters, and that will work smoothly as a contract between free nations—is one which cannot be left for a century to solve. It must be solved in something like a hurry; but there obviously must bo as much: consideration' : as tho movements of other nations will 1 allow. One of yesterday's cable, messages quoted some very ; welcome .observations 'by the London Times: The Times expects ? that Mr. Allen will approve of a Vancouver conference, which is, indeed, a very necessaryything; and, on the general question it says that "the Admiralty was rightly preoccupied with the needs of the moment, but it would endanger its reputation in the Dominion if it concentrated exclusively on the circumstances of the moment, and on European affairs solely." The "need of the moment" is, of course, a sufficient British superiority in European waters; and the uncertainty of the international outlook makes it a very urgent need indeed. \But the Imperial waters must be attended to also; and in this,connection it is of importance to New. Zealanders to tako notice of the difficulty which has-arisen out of the gift of oversea'., battleships. The Times has' contended that the gift of' the New Zealand battleship must bo reckoned apart from Britain's European strength, and that Dominion! battleships generally must; be treated onlv as restoring the balance in Britain s favour throughout the seas from which she has largely withdrawn. .

On December 12 The Times published a, careful analysis of the relative naval strength of Britain and Germany for the period ending March, 1916, and showed that Mr. Churchill's "60 per cent, superiority" could be obtained for the present only by including the Australian and.New Zealand ships, and could not' be maintained, under the present programme, even with those vessels." So far as the people of New Zealand are concerned, they can have no objection to the treatment of their battleship as an alleviation, to the extent of one ship, of Britain's naval expenditure. But a great many people at Home, while they are delighted at every serious effort by the overseas Dominions in the way of beginning an overseas naval defence account, are yet anxious that such naval action shall not cause Britain to relax her own energies in discharging her peculiar duty of controlling European waters. Wc are not sorry to find, that TJie Times' is beginning to consider that Sir Wilfrid' Lauiher's proposal for a 'local navy that shall not complicate Britain's European calculations, can become a supplement of Mr. Borden's Hieme. Our own view has always Ivcn that New Zealand must not confine her efforts to mere money contributions, plain or disguised. The Government cannot in fairness be expected, with the solution of the problem just Hearing its critical point, to commit itself to a full policy, The country will he glad to wait until our representative, who has met the Australian authorities, has fully discussed the now situation with the Admiralty, and the British and Canadian Governments. In the mcantimo, howover, wo can see no

reason why Me. Massky should not

encourage the public discussion of our duty as a nation to mako our country a live limb of the Imperial body.