AMAZING.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16487, 28 February 1914, Page 10

AMAZING.

We had not intended to refer again to the use made of tho cruisers Psyche and Pyramus by the Reform Government during the- recent industrial trouble. Mr Winston Churchill’s statement on tho subject in the' House of Commons proved that the Imperial authorities were not responsible for what occurred and we have no fear that Mr Massey and bis colleagues will miss tho meaning of his words. But a Reform newspaper, angered by tho Admiralty’s implied disapproval of what was done in tho New Zealand ports, has actually assailed Mr Churchill for his frank statement and. has claimed, in effect, that warships are properly employed in strike-breaking operations. The ministerial organ says that if the Admiralty’s policy of absolute non-interference in industrial quarrels were enforced in the dominion, “New Zealanders would soon loso the pride and affection they feel at present in regard to the British Navy’’ and the journal itself “would become a convert to the*policy,-of endeavouring to build up a fleet of our own.” We hope sincerely that in the interests of tho navy and of the defence forces generally the Prime Minister will hasten to dissociate, his Government from the suggestion contained in these amazing words. The fleet, as the Admiralty realises, i 6 a defence force created by tho nation as a whole for the protection of national interests and standing absolutely apart from the bickerings of parties and classes. If that position is abandoned, then inevitably the fleet will be dragged into the field of party controversy with consequences disastrous to its efficiency. We need not elaborate the point. The people of this country, with the Australian Commonwealth before their eyes, can see for themselves, as the Imperial authorities have seen, what would happen if tho workers or any section of the workers came to regard the navy as a class weapon.