The War Cloud.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 206, 4 March 1896, Page 2

The War Cloud.

(Per Press Association.) London, March 3. In hi 3 naval iiroposals, the Hon Mr Goscben declares that fourteen millions sterling are required for naval works, i £850,000 for ordnance, and two and a ' half millions for three docks at the various naval stations. The dockyard wages had increased by .£294,000. In order to hasten the building of warships, the new programme proposed to build five battleships on the improved Renown type, four first-class cruisers, three sec-ond-class cruisers, and six of the third class ; also 28 torpedo destroyers. There were now in course of construction eight battleships, 21 cruisers, and 40 torpedo destroyers, all of which are to be completed by July, 1899. The cost would be £7,285,000. The estimates for the year, he said, had increased by £3,121,---000. Mr Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, states that it is intended to increase the personnel of the British navy by 46,000 men, and he declared that it was easy to obtain sailors and marines. The docks proposed under Mr Goschen's scheme include three at Gibraltar, and the expense of surveying sites for the docks proposed at the Mauritius and Simonstown in Cape Colony. Mr Goschen said the whole of this year's surplus, except an amount necessary for the supplementary estimates, would be absorbed by the naval requirements.