CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1934, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE

BRITISH EMPIRE AND SEA POWER

(To the Editor.) Sir,—Captain Dorling'a eloquent and convincing speech to the Navy League on Wednesday night was needed even in New Zealand —in view of the reaction that set in after the .Great War—to recall us to the realities of the situation and to the absolute necessity for all parts of the Empire of adequate ..British sea power to secure for our ships the free passage of the sea. But if it be necessary in so British ;i community as New Zealand to explain what'a navy means to us as an Empire, how vital it is to our very existence and-] to our principles "of democratic self-gov-ernment so endangered by the growth of ■ despotism,- how infinitely greater is the ' need of expounding to those Dominions , situated in continents, Canada and the \ Union of South Africa, where the greatest ignorance prevails, the elementary principles of sea power. ■~.■■■ ■ . ' | Sea-girt countries such as England/Australia, and New Zealand have a natural sea sense that is entirely lacking in those continental countries. Australia and New^ Zealand delegates to the British Com--momvealth Relations Conference last September* had an eye-opener as to Canada's views on the Navy, aud a prominent British statesmanl had to 'put' to one Canadian who envisaged certain sources of supply of minerals, the Suez and Panama Canals, and strategic positions with international control, and an international navy, the question: "Do I understand that Mr. would view with equanimity the destruction of the British Navy?" Let me give your readers some idea or tho attitude of a group of extreme Left Canadian delegates of British extraction towards tho British Navy. A Canadian memorandum stated that all the protection their ships heeded was when they were concentrated at focal ports, overlooking the fate that would have befallen them on the high seas or in the English Channel in the Great War had the German fleet destroyed the British. Some o£ the Canadians declared that they didn't need the protection of the British Navy and 1 could have that of the American navy, if necessary, others that if they did ihavo the protection of tho British Navy they were under no obligation. to Great I Britain, because if Canada' didn't exist the United Kingdom would not diminish her fleet by a single ship, or, in the alternative, that the United Kingdom for her own sake was bound to protect the sea-routes and the cargoes of food ships she required whether they came from Canada or the Argentine. Nor could we get these Canadian isolationists to agree to any scheme of mutual defence whether in support of the League of Nations, by whose Covenant they were bound, nor iv defence of the British Commonwealth. They would commit Canada to nothing. When tlie question arose they would consider the policy suggested whether it was likely to offend 'the. United States or not, whether they would support it, and if they did they would send land forces to the scene of action, although how they were .to get there without the British Navy they we're not quite clear. One speaker did suggest that in a League war, which is the only one in which the British1 Empire is ever to be engaged, they would be transported by' navies pooled "under the League! Although that is by no means the attitude of the whole of the Canadian people, it seems to be that of a fairly large section of educated Canadians. Of course, if Canada intends to rely on the United States for her protection—and has she counted the cost of doing co? —then she can let us know where she stands, but judging by her attitude at the present time there is a danger of her falling between the two stools of England and the.U.S.A., making no contribution to tho navy of either, providing no navy of her own, and finding that in a crisis the British Navy may be inadequate and that Canada and South Africa may be cut off from the other members of the Empire and from friendly foreign nations with whom they trade, and suffer themselves. . What tho Navy League should do is to concentrate .its effort* op Canada and South Africa, and, in spite of the prejudices that exist and the hostile reception to be encountered, .endeavour to instil into those countries the main general principles of sea power and the consequences of which history is so full, of the neglect by nations of those principles. I do not mention India, for from the attitude .of the Jndian delegates, at the Toronto Conference I believe that,_ as ,a self-governing Dominion, India will cooperate wholeheartedly with Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand in providing adequate naval and aerial defence. — , I am, etc:, H> F . YON HAAST .