THE. PREMIER AND THE FLEET.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 31 December 1912, Page 2

THE. PREMIER AND THE FLEET.

NOBODY need complain that the Prime Minister is reticent about the particular brand of naval policy his Government wants the Dominion to commit itself to. He has been reticent, it is true. But only up to the publication of the Imperial naval memorandum which has made such a sensation in Canada. This the Canadian Government accepts, and asks Parliament to do the same. It is a confession of inability of the Empire to defend the whole of the seas, a notification of the need for concentration of the fleet in the Home waters, and practically a request to the Dominions to do their share, with some sort of a promise to give a corresponding portion of the control of the Fleet into the hands of Dominion representatives. The Canadian government have replied with an offer of three Dreadnoughts, and an intimation that their Minister of Marine shall live in London to take part in the management of the Imperial fleet. Of this the control may pass into divided hands eventually if the Dominions ask for the control of the squadrons of their own building. This is the weak spot of the scheme. Now the Prime Minister says he admires the Canadian spirit and likes the Canadian offer. He says also that we are paying a good deal for the Fleet— £250,000 a year including the Dreadnought provision, and he 1 adds that if our people are asked to pay considerably more, he is quite sure they will do it with pleasure. He need not have gone on to tell us to wait until Mr Allen, who is on the way Home to talk the matter over imperially, comes back. It is plain that the Government intends to ask us to follow the Canadian example, in principle, but has not yet come to any definite conclusion, chiefly for want of definite information, about details. Well, as Mr Massey says, the overseas are not sufficiently protected at sea in case of a scrap. Which means that if we must pay in addition we must, and what is more, look cheerful. So long as we are not asked to build a fleet for ourselves after the manner which Australia persists in and Canada has shown intention to disregard, our people are, we feel sure, ready to look pleasant. But it is a shock to know that the Dreadnought gift has proved insufficient.