The Cost of the Navy.

Manawatu Herald, 10 September 1898, Page 3

The Cost of the Navy.

We can (says a London paper) get pome percf-p'ion of the cost ol our sea defence when we are told that our navy costs us within a few ppnce of a guinea per second, day ivnd night, throughout the year. The anuuftl income of a Cabinet Minister would be absorbed in leR3 than an hour and 20 minutes, acd there are not a d^zen men ; in the kingdom whose yearly income would pay fcw< days' cost of the navy. Every da\ during the current year we art

3« ~ te paying £25,290 for the building o; id new ships to add to our fleet ; it cosl sf £12,866 a day to pay our officers le seamen and marines ; £3793 a da} ;s to feed and clothe them ; and nearlj t, £6000 a day goes to pensions and io half pay to men who have ceased to be ie on the active list ; while to equip n our vessels with their armaments we v are spending £5835 a day. We a spend on the maintenance of a r, single battleship £9000 a year more " than the combined salaries of our ,s nineteen Cabinet Ministers. One " thousand two hundred and Bixty " pounds a week goes in paying its :, / officers crew and marines ; nearly r ] £200 in feeding and clothing them, I £175 a week on the engines and s their satellites, £91 on ordnance, £63 3 on repairs, and £60 on equipment i and navigation. These amounts ree present the expenditure on a battlee ship in times of peace, and would c naturally be largely increased in c time of war.