NAVAL DEFENCE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 280, 22 August 1919, Page 7

NAVAL DEFENCE

PACIFIC PROBLEMS DISCUSSED NAVY IN THE WAR ADMIRAL JELLICOE SPEAKS OF . DIFFICULTIES The Prime Minister and members of the Government entertained at luncheon yesterday Admiral Jejlicoe and officers of his staff; and of tho ship's company of the Now Zealand. It was a small party. . The only other guests wero the Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), the Mavor of Wellington (Mr. J. P. Luke), and the general officers of Headquarters Staff. An apology was received from Major-General Sir Andrew Russell. The luncheon was held in Bellamy's. Parliament Buildings. The Prime Minister presided.

Mr. Massey proposed the toast of the Navy, and he offered a welcome to Lord •Tellicoe and the officers with him'from the Government and Parliament of the country. All would welcome Lord .Tellicoe to New Zealand not only because he was a distinguished sailor, bit'; because his coming was an indication that the Imperial authorities recognised the rifecessitv for adenuato naval protection ill the future. To . tho younn and virile nations in Australia and New Zealand tho subject of naval defence had for .veal's past been- ono contemplated with intense anxiety. Something had been done bv both countries. Australia, with its larger population, had been able to provide what had been cnllcd n local navy, but that local navy had not only .provided protection for the ncor'" in fio dominions of the Pacific, but had also rendered valuable aid in the protection of the British Enmire. Now Zealand also had. done a little; it had presented to tho Lmiiiro the battle-cruiser' New Zealand, "ow in harbour at Wellington. It was but right that he should say that, the credit for having led'.he coiin't in this was due to his colleague the Finance Minister, at that time head of the Government.

Trying Days. When he spoke, of adequate naval prs. tection being a matter- for anxiety, those of his colleagues who had been associated with him in the early days of thu war would appreciate his remarks more than the ordinary citizen. He spoke of the anxious days when tho Force was first sent to Samoa, and of the anxiety regarding. the safety of the Main Body when the transports containing that force had to be sent from -New Zealand. He agreed with - the opinion expressed by many that from the point of view of the British Empire the Pacific would be the storm centre of the future. If we failed to profit by the lessons of tho war then, wo-should deserve everything that might happen to us. In spito of troubles and difficulties New Zealand mado history in a small way. The peoplo u.f this country could look back on the record of the war years without regret or shame, although wo had lost 17,000 bravo men whom we would never cease to mourn, bravo nlcn who had given their lives for freedom, liberty, and civilisation. We had even traditions of a small sort. -He spoko of tho Calliope Dock, called after H.M.S. Calliope, the first ship docked in it, and then he told tho story of the Calliope's escape from Apia harbour when sho was the only ship 6aved out of foven warships assembled at Samoa to deal with a native trouble there before the time of German occupa. tion. There wero three German vessels, three American ships, and the Calliope, and tho Calliope escaped by steaming into open sea in the face' of the hurricane, As she passed tho harbour mouth American sailors, themselves in deadly peril, stood on tho decks of their ships and cheered the Calliope as she stearied out, fighting hard with the storm. Not al ways did we agree,with tlio Ajuericans, but they were of the same blood as ourselves, and they showed their chivalrous feolings on this occasion. It was Maori tradition that the Maoris came to New; Zealand as colonists from Savaii, so -that they were cousins of the people of Samoa, speaking to-day tho same language with a different dialect. The Maoris had not come originally ffom Savaii. They were, in fact, great navigators. There were no better navigators in the world- than tho Native race of this country. The Maoris had dono their duty as eitizess of this country in the great war, ■ and ho hoped that tho time would come when tlwv could sail in British ships, whSn they would again do ti eir duty.

Our Debt to the Nav), All the citizens of New Zealand owed tt deep debt, of gratitude to the British Navy for the protection given to them by. the Navy during the years of tho war. Because of that protection we had been able to continuo our trade relaions with othor countries, especially with Britain. We had not done all this with, out loss, for we had lost by enemy action more than twenty ships, two of them on coast, of New Zealand. 110 spoke of the splendid fights made against tne lloewo by the Clan MacTavish and the Otaki, and of the award of tho posthumous V.G. to the master of tho Otaki. These were deeds of which New Zealandcrs were proud. Somo day New Zealand would be a greater nation than she was to-<lay, a nation of farmers, traders, arid sailors, with their ships in every port of the world,-and always .under the British flag. Our existence would always depend oil naval supremacy. The Empire contained a family of nations stretching round the world, and it was a tremendous responsibility for future citizens of tho Umpire to secure those nations by adequato naval protection, lately thero had been established a League of Nations. He hoped, as ail British people hoped, that it would be successful in keeping peaee in tho world, but there could be no doubt that to-day tho British Navy was tho most important factor in keeping the peace of tho world. Whatever happened, it must ever bo the policy of the British Empire to keep a navy strong enough-for the protection of all parts of the Empire.

LORD JELLICOE REPLIES. FLEET. WHEN WAR BEGAN. Lord Jellicoe said that ho himsolf and tho officers ol' tho Royal Navy with him felt very much honoured to be tho guests of tho Now Zealand Government. He could wish that somo raoro efficient mouthpieco than he could have been found to express tho grateful thanks for the very kind references made to tho work of the Royal Navy. New Zealand had offered to tho British Empire tho battle-cruiscr New Zealand, in which ship they were very proud to be to-day. That offer had been made in consequence of speeches in the British Houso of Commons, pointing out the importance of the German naval monace. The' example of this country had been very quickly followed by Australia. The experience of this war had shown that the misgivings of the Admiralty in 1909 were very fully justified. It could even be said that the building programme of that year was inadequate to the needs of the situation. It was adequate in capital ships, but inadequate in thoso other attributes which went to make un an c ,^ iei }f lavy1 avy - 1,1 tho?e {la J' s jt Imd'been difficult to persuade the people oven that capital ships were required. There had been great opposition to the Admiralty « programme at that time; indeed, it lmd nearly caused a split in tho Government of the day. But although 7iione.v could bo obtained with difficulty for capital ships, it had not beon possible to obtain it for all tho bther necessary attributes of a fleet, such as docks, light cruisers, destroyers, and other vessels. The result was that when the war caino it found tho Navy deficient in these accessories, docks, light cruisers, destroyers and submarines. As a result tho Navy had had to fight a very difficult oattle for many years of the war. In the early days the protection for our trade from the German China squadron had not been really adequate, and there had been serious misgivings as to the fate of the overseas expeditionary forces being brought to the European theatre of war. The difficulti:« of those early days had been intensified later when tho German raiding cruisers and disguised vessels got through the blockade. It had always been a very easy thing for theni to get through. It was impossible for tho British fleet, to prevent them from going up the coast of Norway, and the wondor of tho' British Government throughout the war had been

was why the Germans lost opportunities for sending out many more raiding vessols. Of those ivhich tried to set out only two fell victimq to the blockading squadron, and theso two fell victims because they camo out halfway between the Shetland Islands and the coast of Norway, in':o waters where it was possible for the British squadron to catch them.

Fighting the Submarine. But those dangers of lack of sufficient cruiser strength were as nothing to the dangers which came about from the German submarine campaigns. These dangers wero brought about very largely from our lack of adequate numbers of destroyers. He could well remember in the early days of unrestricted submarine campaigning by the Germans how Mr. Massey had drawn his attention to the loss of that very fine New Zealand ship, Kotorua, and lie had then to assure Mr. Mussey, as he had to fell other people at the time, that ho had not the destroyers to send (o protect these vessels, valuably as they might be. The only way to save the merchantmen was by the convoy system. He had been pressed on all sides to (jo it. but he had been nnablo to do it because he had not the necessary vessels. Had ho withdrawn his few destroyers irom the trade routes 10 protect inadequately convoys, the losses would havo bee 1 greater than they were. The only thing that enabled the Admiralty to adopt the convoy system had been the assistance of the American Navy, in giving their wholo destroyer forces. This had been another instance in which the Americans had shown that blood was thicker than water. When they came into the war they asked what tho British required. He replied: "We want every destroyer and every small vessel in the United States Navy."' - The Americans sent their ships at once, and it had been the assistance of those vciseTs which enabled tho Admiralty to develop the convoy system which had done so much to save tho merchantmen in the Inter days of the war. But in the early.days they had no destroyers, and 110 power on earth could have produced in less Mian six. months the anti-submarine measures then bring devised. Everything had to bo made. Workshops had to be sot .up to make them, and thero was no hope cf anything effectivo being done before tho autumn of 1918. Six bad months bad to pass before the submarine menace could be taken in hand.'

In the Pacific, One lesson lo bo Jearned from all this was "Be prepared." He noped, as everybody else must hope, that the League of Nations' would be able to reduce tho chances of wars in the future, but the British Navy wa-s the only safeguard of Britain and the Umpire, and he hoped it would not be reduced. The British Navy alone would noc be abfe to tacklo the proposition. The burden had become too big for the Mother Country to shoulder by herself, and lie felt, as all the officers and men witit him felt, that the mission on which they were at present, engaged was one of very real importance. He hoped it might be possible to produce a scheme which wou'M be favourably considered by the great oversea Dominions, and that as a result assistance would be forthcoming from these Dominions, so that if there should unhappily be war in the future, these dependencies would not have to depend entirely on tho British Navy for security. In considering questions before them out here, tho officers with him and he hirosaf had inevitably been led to consider the whole problem of the Pacific. He felt that the problem out here, from the shores of Africa, to tho shores of America was one problem, and all portions of the British Empire within those boundaries wero alike interested in security of the sea communications. Ko hoped that they would be nMe to devise a scheme which would not only affect the Dominions, but also the Mother Country, a scheme which, if adopted, would bring more adequate security for tlio sat communications of the Empire in theso waters. ' Mr. Massey had referred to the email way in which New Zealand had been making history during the nvnr. He was sure that his comrades of tho Royal Navy wouf.d say that it had been by no meaus a small part that New Zealand had played. It had been one of the greatest parte-played by any. Dominion of tho Umpire, and tho officers.and men of the Royal Navy, were MM with admiration for tho deeds of Now Zealand's gallant soldiers. He and those with, him were very glad and proud to bo the guests on this occasion of the country which produced such gallant soldiers. (Applause.) Dr. Pomare was invited to speak a few words of wcf.come on ljehalf of the Native race, and he did so, making a most elegant speech of welcome, and some references to the days when his race was fighting the pakoha, to present friendly relations, and to the share of his people in tho war.