The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1919. ADMIRAL JELLICOE'S REPORT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 19, 17 October 1919, Page 6

The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1919. ADMIRAL JELLICOE'S REPORT

The comprehensive report on nayal defence which Abmxjial JklLICOE has presented to the New Zealand Government calls for careful and deliberate consideration. iu regard to the broad issues it raises*, however,.there is little enough room for doubt. Though it proposra great and sweeping changes in the organisation of naval .defence in the Pacific and invites this country to shoulder very much heavier naval burdens than it has yet undertaken, the report contains nothing .that will surprise those who have given any thought to the position New Zealand occupies in the Empire and the defensive measures needed to make it secure against external aggression or interference with its trade. The time obviously has gone by when the people of New Zealand could expect, or could he content, to rely as in pre-war days upon ,ihe Mother .Country for naval protection. The lirifcish Navy is as it always has been our first and best line of defence, but hjtherto we have paid no more than a .fraction of the amount we would have paid for naval _ protection oti a. basis pf population and trade. IV. turning (iway from the present inequitable arrangement to suclj a policy as will meet future requirements, two considerations suggest themselyes as outside the scope of argument. One is that New Zealand must pay its fair share of the cost of naval defence, and the other that the Dominion must take r.n actual part in naval organisation. There may be some room for difference of opinion as to >vhat this part should be, but it will be commonly agr.eed at least that this country cannot discharge its naval responsibilities by contributing money alone. Loud Jwxicos's report, of course, will bear careful examination in all its details, but at a hasty survey its recommendations seem well calculated to lift the whole naval question, as it affects this country, out of the region of partisan controversy. As regards finance, the Admiral recommends that New Zealand should .provide for an annual expenditure on naval defence rising bv gradations from £357,000 in 1920-21 to £l J66,100 in 1925-26. Set in comparison with the present naval subsidy of £150,000 per annum, and the supplementary gift before the war of the battle-cruiser New Zealand, this is a very bio; increase, but, there can be no valid objection to necessary expenditure upon that forjn of .defence which is most vital to the sceuritv of the Dominion. If the projected scheme of naval defence in the Pacific "is approved, and New Zealand's share is found to be fairly apportioned, the burden must be tak«n up as a matter of course. It will be noticed that the Dominion is invited to make one-fourth of the. contribution asked of the Commonwealth of Australia, though its population is about one-fifth of that of the Commonwealth. This is due t.o the fact that the scale of contribution is based upon external trade as well as population—a_ point which will be of material importance when it comes to distributing the burden of naval defence expenditure.

The controversy between advocates of Imperial contribution and those who stand for the creation of a so-called local navy ought to die away in face of Loud Jellihoe's recommendations as to the lines on which New Zealand " should cooperate in the development of the British Far Eastern Fleet. The chief point with those who have supported the idea of local naval< preparation—an eminently sound point—has been that a contribution restricted to money is unworthy of a self-governing J),ominion like New Zealand and that it ought to provide men and maintain ships as well as contribute in money to the cost of the Navy. On the other hand the extreme advoegtes of Imperial contribution have been chiefly concerned about maintaining a single strong Navy for the Emnire under centralised and undivided control. Both points of view have much to commend I hem, and both are reasonably met under Lorcn Jem.icoe's recommeiub'tions. the scheme he has outlined, the Bii-/ tisli Dominions in the Pacific would* maintain divisions of the British 1 , Far Eastern Fleet which as a whole/ would be under the command of an

admiral with headquarters at Singapore. Loud Jellicoe insists upon the necessity of unified control of the composite fleet in war and in timcswhen war is threatened, and his dictum on this point is hardly likely to lie challenged. On the other hand he gives full weight to the consideration that naval responsibilities are "far more clearly recognised and far more cheerfully borne if the result of the effort made is apparent to those who make it, in .other words if the ships provided are seen by the people who pay for them and are manned as far as possible by their own kith and kin." Under the sthenic outlined by Loan Jellicoe,' New Zcalandcrs would have a full and defined part in naval organisation. Maintaining, and in .course of time manninp the ships of the New Zealand division in the Far Eastern Fleet, as well as the small craft specified for harbour defence, tliis country would in -,a real sense be pursuincca self-reliant naval policy although its naval forms would at the same time be part 'and parcel of a groat Imperial organisation, fn its essential purport Lopn Jeixtenn's report is a call to the people of this country to take un responsibilities they cannot with reason or regard for self-respect evade or neglect. The scale on which it will be necessary as times goes on for New _ Zealand and (lie rent of the Empire to develop naval organisation will of cour'sc depend largely upon the movement of world affairs. In any .circumstances that are likely to arise, however, adequate naval preparation will lie a vital necessity. This in its.e.lf dictates a r.eady. Acceptance of whatever burdens are involved, b.ufc an aetivc and selfreliant part in the naval defence of the Empire is far from implying only the imposition of new burdens. The Navy is n magnificent expression of national strength, but its mission is to preserve and safeguard peace. In it:> incomparable combination of power and pcaccf.ul intent it is a grand expression of the best qualities of the British race and offers the finest of all fields in which to nurture these qualities. It should be a matter of whole-hearted pride and satr isfantion that we have reached such a stage in national development as enables us to take a full and active port in the work and responsibilities of .the British Navy.