“SONS OF THE SEA.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2281, 26 May 1921, Page 3

“SONS OF THE SEA.”

THE NAVAL PROBLEM

Love of the sea, remarked the Hon. ,C. J. Parr, in his Empire Day speech at*the Commercial Travellers’ Club, Wellington, on Empire Day, was one of the bonds which held the British Empire more firmly together than written treaties or constitution could do. The British were all children of the sea; the Empire had been created by seapower; in every ocean of the world the British Navy had hitherto stood supreme. It would be well to remember these facts; because the moment the British Navy sank to second place in the world would sound the knell of the British Empire. (Hear, hear.) It was well that the statesmen of the Empire were gathering together next week to discuss the vital matter of the naval defence of the Empire. The old peril of German naval power in the North Sea had disappeared, and as had often been said, the stormcentre had shifted to the Pacific Ocean. Would it lawavs be safe in the Pacific? There must be in the Pacific a lleet commensurate with the important outposts of the Empire. The fleet should not only be contributed to bv the Motherland, but substantially -contributed to by Australia, Canada, ami New Zealand. The lleet, as Lord Jellicoe had well advised, should be based on Singapore. “That lleet we must pay for; and it must bo a fleet that will uphold the Empire as in the days of Drake, and of Blake, and of Nelson, and the heroes of old.”