An Authority on Why England is adding to her Fleet.

Manawatu Herald, 29 July 1897, Page 2

An Authority on Why England is adding to her Fleet.

♦ The Navy League Journal just to hand pays : W * congratulate Sir Edward Reed upon his letter to the Timsi, protesting against the habit which writers of letters to the newspapers have recently developed of taking "the iron-clad as a standard cause of expenditure, which might, they seem to think, be spared for all sorts of purposes." Says Sir E. Reed : — " We do not build our war fleets — we are not at this hour build* ing them— for the purpose of attacking any one, for lowering the name or fame of any nation, or for subjecting any free and happy people to our rule. -What we build and are building them for is to maintain the freedom of the high seas ; to give protection to our peaceful commercial fleets against the destruction wbioh, were they unprotected, would inevitably fall upon them ; to oast a shield of steel around our splendid colonial possessions, and around the adven* fcurous and generous people there, who are our brothers and sons ;' and (as we are at this hour doing) to give the Powers of the world, great and [ small alike, to understand that the voico of Britain will apeak for peace, and speak powerfully, even amid the uproar of a continent or of a world. Yes, speak for peace even by way of war if there be no other, and only if there be no other way. This language may be strange to some, but it will not be strange to those who remember that by the battle of Trafalgar was purchased the immediate relief of this country from 'the danger of invasion, and the ultimate and ong relief of Europe from the storm of war that for years swept over it. I will assume, then, what all the world well knows, that the British Navy is builfc for great patriotic, peaceable, and humane purposes, and that without it apprehension and danger would darken the face of much more than half the world. Well, now I ask the question, to what better purpose can we apply part of the vast annual income of his country than upon the construedon and machining of ships of all kinds, and more especially of those mips which are to protect the rest, md all those interests that from beyond the seas look to us for protection and aid ? " I hope these considerations may induce some at least of your correspondents to let the ironclads alone, and even in some cases to turn their influence the other* way, and when they hear of schemes for spending money on wasteful, or even unnecessary enterprises, exclaim : ' What a pity 1 A few such sums as are here co be wasted would add adother bulwark to the Empire, another encouragement to our colonies, another addition to the power of thi3 nation for good, in the form of another ironclad to baur that flag under which we and our children all the world over sit in peace and security, none daring even to try and make us' afraid.' "