SEA POWER
BRITAIN’S NAVAL STRENGTH. FEAR OF TOO GREAT REDUCTION The danger of further reducing Great Britain’s naval strength was emphasised by-Mr J. J. Dougall, Pre-staenL-of the Caniemiry Branch of: the Navy League, in some interesting, remarks he made at a meeting held in the Navy League Hall, -Christchurch, recently. 'The necessity for perpetuating the old-time sea spirit of adventure' If .the Bntisti Empire is to continue in existence 1 was ; the predominant note in the interesting 'address given by incut. Commander R. 0. E. Harding, R.N. Mr Dougafl said that he was afraid that the Navy League did not interest. many people nowadays,, as there were many who s'aid that navies weie not needed and that the time was at hand when the lion was going to lie down with; the lamb. Be did not think that the prospects of peace were as bright as a large -number of people would like them to-believe.ln peace, times the 'British - people never tlmught, of war and did not prepare for it'.n Although when the Great War broke out,, the British Navy was very efficient it was not the result of public demand. The Navy League could take ciedit fui hiving emphasised the- necessity for the building of more ships- and the eight battleships laid down, in 1909 had been the leaders of the Grand Fleet arid had proved -their w'rth at, the crucial stage of the Battle of Jutland. He desired to impress -on thos e who; were talking about the -reduction o, armaments that naval authorities in Britain were of the opinion that Britain -already -has reduced . beyond.-, the paint of safety. As a comparison of the personnel in ,1914 ; and now . showed vb. : 1914—Britain 146,000, United States #7,000, Japan 60,000\; 1932 ■Britain 91,000; United Spates 114,000; Japan 80,000. Britain .-was the only great Power that -had made any.,attempt to -reduce armaments and- had reduced beyond the limit of -safety. Franc® and ita y were more strongly - armed .than ip,; 1914. He could.- not conceive : a mqre foolish policy than that, people should contend that there ?hojdd .be further disarmament, by Britain and by tße British alone. Until -some of the other nations,:, particularly,; the United -States,that- talked so. much about,;it, showed .some signs of d’Barming, if would be absolutely disastrous for Britain to .reduce, her naval strength, further,, Everyone hoped that there would be .no more war, but, they had seen Japan' sweep the League of ' ations- aside,-...and Germanyclaim equality.,, in -arms. ; T ; he Britisbu- -vrmy and navy hfed never been as weak fn the -past one- hundred years.,as they Vefe to-day.’*' He "eificfei'ely' hoped" that a strong , : navy would be; advocated by the people of New Zealand who were, i'n ; his humble opinion, the, most pa.tr riojtic.sof the overseas dominions,,o.f the British Empire, and . New. Zealand was looked upon ;by England, he .had - no doubt, as ;-the whiteriiaired boy of the Empire, - •.... ;. ■ J I L . U Lieutenant Commander Harding spoke with force, and eloquence on. the importance of Britain . maintaining her sea-power, As he saw it, .he. said, the British Empire w's th e outcome of Britain’s insular, condition. Out of the -ridugh bouse created by the. Danes, thcL Jutes; the Norsemen and the Celts sprang -a race with sea-fever in its veins—a race of -seamen all—men who could sail their w,ay and fight their way anywhere in the tmgh old.,world, He. went on to dhow that with the growth of trade, the necessity arose for a navy.' The sail, he said, had given th-e British sailor his hard, cool efficiency, his devilry and spirit uf , ‘adventure, and his unquestioning belief in himself. Being a just people, ■ law-loving and God-fearing they took 'in -every part (of the world. British justice, and honesty, and sportsmanship. Nowadays they went down to the-sea in floating palaces, and though seamanship of a sort was still needed, it was the kind that almost could be learned by correspondence. His opinion was that trie British Navy must go - back to the old training in s a i), and they must come back to their ole reliance upon the sea. There could bf now no taking their hh-nd from • th< tiller for if they slackened up and gol soft aind gav e in, anarchy would raise its head and chaos would reign. Wai did not wait for open declaration: ji continued all the time-with subtl e . pro pa ganda.- .rind with treacherous shifts All the 1 .- nations hid conflicting aim: and few, scruples, and they thoughl that the-British-Empire was .weakening If they:-did weaken it would be be •\\ause -.they Jhad Iforesaken their old love, the, sea, .which wa« the Empire’: strength.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19321021.2.73
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1932, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
776SEA POWER Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1932, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
The Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd is the copyright owner for the Hokitika Guardian. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.