THE EMPIRE'S NAVY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 550, 15 March 1913, Page 5

THE EMPIRE'S NAVY.

NEW ZEALANDERS - SPEECHES. MR ALLEN AND SIR JOSEPH WAKD. By TclcKi'iiph. - -Prt-Hs AHiiocinliun. Coii.vnulil London, Thursday. Sir Joseph Ward presided at, i\ meeting of the Liberal Colonial Club last night, at which Mr J anion Allen, New Zealand Minister for Defence and Finance, was the principal guest. Mr Allen initiated a discussion upon Imperial defence, lie said that ho regarded the land and sea defences as interdependent; hence the necessity Cor national service, and a naval force. He warmly commended the Australian Navy, which ho said wan not for Australian defence alone, but for I'm ■ perial defence. Continuing, Mr Allen said that ho did not cure wlnthor tho Dominions built a unit or contributed Dreadnoughts to the Imperial Navy. There must ultimately bo an undivided Imperial Navy. Sir Joseph Ward said that he did not agree with tho policy of sectional navies. No single Dominion wan able to build an effective- unit for itself or tho Empire without applying for financial assistance. He repeated hia previous arguments in favour of a per capita contribution. This, he said, would enable British payments to be reduced, and secure not four, but 40 Dreadnoughts. It would give Australia a fleet twice as strong as the present one, ntjiial to a unit and a-half, at the present cost.