The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 5, 1913. THE NAVAL PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1741, 5 May 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, MAY 5, 1913. THE NAVAL PROBLEM.

It has bccome increasingly plain thq.t tho future relations between the Overseas Dominions and the Mother Country in the matter of naval defence is going to prove a problem most difficult of solution. There is something to be said in favour of a policy of.financial contributions by the various Dominions, which will place the control and responsibility for Imperial naval defence wholly in the hands of tho British Admiralty ; and there is still more to be put forward in support of the idea of encouraging the younger nations of the Empire to make a beginning in the direction of replacing the financial contribution with one of ships and men. More and more British, as well as colonial, statesmen arc coming round to the view that future development must inevitably proceed along lines which will result in the Overseas Dominions building ships and manning them; and accompanying this new policy will necessarily be a closer and more intimate association throughout the Empire .on questions of-foreign policy and imperial defence. The current issue of The Hound Table contains a thoughtful and informative article on the subject of "Policy and Sea Power," which traverses the whole question in some detail, and especially emphasises an important phase of it which has -received very little attention. The particular matter here referred to is the question of foreign policy. It must be plain that whatever may be done by the Overseas Dominions in the way of naval defence, it must be materially influenced, if not entirely governed, by the foreign policy of the Empire. Assuming that the Empire is to remain a united whole, which everyone takes to bo a matter of course, it is quite clear that it can have only one foreign policy. Discussing this phase of the matter, The Round, Table gives an illustration of how intimately any question of naval policy is linked with that of foreign policy: With every development of tho naval forces of the Dominions, it states, it will indeed become clearer that there is no escape from liability for the policy which directs tho fortunes of the British Kmpire and its component parts. Tho very possession of a navy carries with it tho status of nationhood. "Kavies," as Admiral Malum has said, "aro" instruments of international -relations. Their constitution aiid numbers must reflect a national policy." INO sooner had Australia, New Ze.ilaii:l, and Canada initiated a naval programme flian ttiey were forced in the imperial Coniereneo of I'JU to discuss the question of loreign policy, and to begin to share in tho responsibility for it. The connection, as iMahan pointed out, could scarcely have been more signally illustrated. No sooner had the Dominions assorted the right to determine the measures Which they were going to take -for their own defenco and tho defence of tho Empiro than they were brought up ugainst tho faot Chat the preparations Which' 1 they o'jght to make depended mainly on tho foreign situation and tho foreign policy of the Imperial (jovcrument, a matter over which they lmd iht control and lvliieli they admitted must bo in the hands of a single'" authority.

In the past tho foreign policy of the Empire has been decided entirely by the statesmen of Britain, and one of the problems associated with the changed outlook in naval defence is the readjustment of the relations of tho Overseas Dominions and the Mother Country on matters of for.eigu policy. A cable message which we published on Saturday reported Mr. James Allen as saying in his speech at Ottawa: "To-day's conditions would not last long. If the solution of tho problem of participation in the mon scheme of Empire defence was to be Imperial Conferences, the greatest good would be accomplished if the conferences becamo Councils of Empire. " This remark touches on the only practical suggestion yet put forward as a means of overcoming the difficulty of finding a method of giving the Dominions a share in shaping the policy which is to govern the foreign relations of the Empire, as well as that of Imperial defence. The Home Government has of late shown its readiness to admit the accredited representatives of the Dominions to meetings of the Imperial Defence Committee, and this has been taken advantage of; but this committee is purely an advisory body, and while such opportunities must prove of value to colonial statesmen, and on occasions, possibly, of somo assistance to the committee, the arrangement binds no one. Mr. Harcourt, Secretary of State for the Colonies, has expressed the view that he sees "no obstacle, and certainly no objection, to_ the Governments of all the Dominions being given at once a larger share in the executive direction in matters of defence, and in personal consultation and co-operation with individual British Ministers, whose duty it is to frame policy here." This is reasonable enough as things arc at present. The only part tho Dominions are offered ill the shaping of questions of foreign policy is the opportunity of placing their views before the British Government. To again quote tho writer in The RoundTable :

11l the sphero of policy tho Dominions may -represent their views ami be consulted; but the filial determination and the resultant action must still rest with the Government of Great Britain. Questions oi\ war and peaco require instant decision, secrecv, and unity of purpose. The responsibility for them is not susceptible oi Being shared between moro than one Government. The success of the new step is therefore, it is clear, conditional upon the continued willingness of the Dominions to exercise mainly influence and to leave all action in foreign affairs stilt to the British Government. This willingness is again conditional, first upon their confidence in the British management of foreign policy, and sccomlly ill tho maintenance of that state of affairs under which the overwhelmingly • greater responsibility for the cost of defence, naval and military, falls on the United Kingdom. Long before the Dominions become equal in power with Great Britain these makeshift constitutional arrangements will have to come up for revision.

That tho arrangement is a "makeshift" one, and loose in its tics, is not without its advantages. The very knowledge that it is simply a temporary expedient should assist to its acceptance, and out oE it may grow something which will give the Dominions the larger influence in Imperial affairs which tliev will naturally desire. Our view has always been, however, that the situation cannot lie forced—the change must lie a gradual one, and without any suggestion of pressure from any quarter. As the Dominions shoulder a larger share of the responsibility of Imperial defence, so naturally will rnui" tile ('oooKnitiun (lint t.h"y are entitled to carry greater weight in

the councils of the Empire. In the meantime the burden which tho Mother Country has curried, and is still carrying, in our behalf should not be lost sight of.