The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 9. 1929.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 January 1929, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY JANUARY 9. 1929.

PEACE AXD AICMA-MEXTS. It must seem an amazing thing to most people, comments the Lyttelton ‘•Times” that international effort to ensure peace is accompanied by marked national activity in the provision ol armaments. A Uriel message from Washington states that the United States Senate is to discuss the ratification of the Kellogg Peace Pact lielore it considers a naval measure designed to add materially to the strength of the American navy. To many, this state of affairs must seem to he a parody on civilisation, and to all it will serve to show what a long road has yet to lie travelled before the nations have reached that position where security, in the last resort, is not dependent on strength of arms. This seemingly paradoxical position of peace and increased armaments being considered side by side is further illustrated Ivy movements in Germany. At the present time the political lead-

ers of tlic Republic arc endeavouring to impress on the Allies its inability to pay heavy reparations, and at the same time the German naval authorities are spending on small vessels of war sums unparalleled in the history of naval construction. Information goes to show that the new cruisers, under the 1928

..aval Budget, are costing £2lO per ton for hull and maehinery alone, while the new torpedo' boats, restricted ny the Versailles Treaty to a displacement of 800 tons, are costing no hiss than £215 per ton. This figure is all the more remarkable in that these torpedo boats have no armour, a very costly item in the building of cruisers, yet, per ton, they exceed the excessive amount expended on the larger vessels. But the startling cost of the guns with which the latest German ships are armed seems almost inexplicable. Before the war a cruiser of 5000 tons, complete with armament, ammunition, and full equipment, could he built for £500.()()!>, yet for the “10” cruiser under construction in German yards £725,000 was appropriated for the armament alone. Still more startling is tin l ‘prodigious cost of a projected miniature battleship of 10.000 tons, 100 construction of which the German Xavv,Department is pressing for with great determination. In the estimates for this ship the gun armament alone is set down as £1.800.000, whieh is only £200,000 short of the average total cost of the new British 10.000 ton cruiser complete in every detail. \« the projected German ship could carry six heavy guns at most, each weapon would cost somewhere near .£‘300,000. These fabulous construction and armament figures have caused widespread comment in Germany, hut the naval authorities offer no explanation other than the asser--1 ion that “the cost of construction ii Germany is not appreciably higher than elsewhcro.” The statement has been challenged by a German naval writer, who shows that the British battleship Nelson, the most powerful warship afloat, with a displacement of 3.1,000 tons, and an armament of nine 10 inch, twelve 0 inch and thirtyfour smaller guns cost £7,000.000. while the 10, 000-ton armoured ship construction the German Admiralty is urging, is provisionally estimated to cost at least £-1.000,000. The only mssible inference is that Gcrmanv

uaying marked attention to ship design and development of naval material, and that her new ships and torpedo boats must have certain unique characteristics that would prove of great interest to naval experts of other nations.