OUR NAVAL POLICY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2147, 13 May 1914, Page 7

OUR NAVAL POLICY

/ ; '- ; THE PACIFIC . QUESTION SHOULD NOW BE ?; '.■;>■■ * SETTLED {'■: VIEWS OF'PAST AND PRESENT :-. ■■ > DEFENCE 'MINISTERS . ■ VJly Mcgrajilv-Prws Aeeociation-Conyriirht ~,,<IU'C. May Vi, 9,10 p.m.) ■'"" .""' '■"'•"".. Vancouver, Mav 11. ' ; Mr: Arthur Myers,. M.P. (New JSeaiand), in an interview, said that ho was ulnd to recognise that the Imperial spirit was growing in .Canada equally with New Zealand. Tho vital question f|>r consideration now was tho defence of the 'Pacific. Tho tinw for dclinite fiction had arrived, and tho foundations oiiglii now to bo laid for tho future policing of tlie Pacific. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand ought to unite for this purpose. White fully recognising our indebtedness to the British Navy, ho felt that the time iiad arrived when the Dominions ought to share more in the burdens of Empire, tfc was unpleasant to think that New Zealand's existence depended on a friendly treaty with Japan. - 'The creation oven of a nucleus navy at the present time was a- step in the right dirtvytkil). "If," added Mr. Myers, "the Empire ever falls apart, it will be due to a lack of sympathy, a lack of'imagination caused by a lack of knowledge. Interchanges of ' visits by the people's representatives throughout the Empireis eminently desirable." HON, i. ALUN'S VIEW, QUESTION MUST RE SETTLED SOON. (By Tclegrapij.-Pre-Si Association.) Auckland, May 12. in referring 'to the naval question tins evening tho Minister of Defence (Hon. Jas. Allen) stated to a reporter that nothing further had transpired lately regarding tho -saggostal ImjHsrial Defence Conference. No date had been' named, bub the question "was ono that must !» settled 'shortly. In view of the breakdown of tho. 1809 agreement," tie said, "we must! know where wo are in regard to the future defence of the Pacific, and Australia, more particularly, mu .<-t know where sho is. Australia has done more than 'she was required to do under the 1009 Agreement, and tho position from her t»mt of view, as well as that of Now Zealand, is most unsatisfactory."