Great Britain's Navy.

Manawatu Herald, 15 March 1898, Page 2

Great Britain's Navy.

I Mr Goschen, First Lord of the Admiralty, in introducing the Naval Estimates in the House of Commons, appealed to the operatives and man- ' ufacturefl to co-operate in repairing r arrears of the Navy building scheme. 1 Then peace would be crowned with honor, or if war should take place it would be crowned with victory for Britain. The Admiralty asked for a total » vote of £25,555,000 for the Navy. ; Great progress had, said Mr Goschen, been made in the work of f increasing the strength and efficiency 3 of the Navy, though the ideal has not yet been reached. The Estimates — « ?, were based upon the needs of the t Empire and the possibility of naval construction. There were 258 ships s placed in commission, manned by s 50,800 men. Britain bad pquadrons in foreign waters where other nations i only had isolated ships. The c Admiralty was prepared for any a contingencies. It was constructing 84 vessels at a cost of £23,000,000. If times became darker the Government would appeal to the patriotism of the nation to allow the Admiralty , to do its duty unhampered. Timid in- ' quirias had been made as to whether it was intended to reinforce the g British fleets at particular points. He replied that the cruisers would be carefully distributed for the protection of the trade routes, especially in connection with the food supplies of Britain. The Admiralty had r been prepared to expend £2,500,000 f in purchasing warships that were ] now being built in England for y foreign nations, but none had been . found suitable. t In the debate on the question, r Lord Charles Beresford, M.P. for York City, said Britain ought to t seize the island of Chusan, off the i coast of China. ; Mr Gosohen's speech has been . favourably received on all bands, I though it ia contended that in frarni ing tha Naval Estimates the Govern- ■ ment did not take into account the I immense naval expenditure of [ Russia. s