COLONIAL DEFENCE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2657, 12 October 1882, Page 3

COLONIAL DEFENCE.

[Melbourne “ Argus.”J

An item in our telegraphic new# from Great Britain challenges the public attention. We are told that six cruisers are being fitted out at Chatham for the Australian station, and it will be remembered that earlier in the week the announcement was made that six merchant cruiser* had been allotted to the Hong Kong and six to the Bombay station#. The intelligence i# well calculated to create we will not say an uneasiness, but assuredly a desire to learn more. It is now well under* stood that the nations of the world have by common consent agreed that in the event of a war with Great Britain, their most hopeful plan of action would be to strike at her commerce on the high seas. The American navy, the Hussion navy, and the French navy, are to a greater or lesser extent now organised upon this basis. The latest French writer, Admiral Aube, « eolares indeed that “ the effective strength of a navy lies not in its ironclads, but in its torpedoes and its cruisers.’ The Russian Government gave us a fair warning on the subject in 1878 9, when with great ostentation a “ patriotic fund” was established, and American ships were openly purchased, and a parade was made about lending out the crews, Russia i# not accustomed to act with this publicity, and her procedure was rightly taken as an indication of what would be the consequence if Great Britain interfered too far between herself and the Turk. To this day, indeed, the Hussion Press is apt to assert that the fear of having a dozen Alabamas launohod°against British commerce terrified the English Government into comparative inaction. But that may pass. Gasconade is not confined to any particular soil. What is certain is that the Hussian demonstration led to the adoption of a specific policy at the Admiralty. Certain advantages were offered to shipowners who would build their vessels in compliance with conditions of strength and subdivision, which would render them serviceable as cruisers in time of war. Thus the Servia, the latest addition to the Canard fleet, was so built. She is a magnificent boat of 7200 tons, with a speed of 17i knots per hour, and as a cruiser has probably no equal afloat. And it was stated at the time of the trial of the Servia that “ the Admiralty has at present a list of upwards of 200 ships, all of which have complied with the conditions of the department so far as construction is concerned." These ships could not fight ironclads and batteries any more than could the Hussian fleet which recently visited us. But it is held that they would be a match for the “ freelances ” of the foe, and that the would-be depredators would thus be themselves chased and captured, la guns, in speed, in strength, the British cruisers would be at least equal to the Alabama# of the enemy, and the rest would depend upon seamanship.