IMPERIAL DEFENCE. NAVAL CO-OPERATION

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 37

IMPERIAL DEFENCE. NAVAL CO-OPERATION

What a change came over the scene on ; Tuesday morning ! From the level of a provincial debate the conference suddenly soared to that of the Oxford Union or the mother of Parliaments. The subject, of course, lent itself to florid phrases and patriotic peroration. There was no sordid smallness of detail. The gilded room became now the arena in which envoys from all corners of the earth should declare, as even Premiers may not, the fidelity of the people of the Outer Empire to the Imperial ideal. Four British speakers of the first water followed in quick succession — Mr M"Kenna (First Lord of the Admiralty), Sir Edward Grey (the weightiest speaker of the present Cabinet), Lord Cromer, and Mr Alfred Lyttelton, — and one of the worst partisans amongst the political persifleurs of London journalism came humbly away and wrote : " The thought one' broughtaway was how unanimous men of common sense can be when they discuss high Imperial problems apart from political bias." j Yes, when they do. Until the oversea journalists reached England it was considered impossible for good, honest journalists to be politically above party. But when Mr M'Kenna and others spoke everyone cheered at the same time — the Boer editor of the Volkstem, the Scot from Montreal, the Australian from Sydney, the i New Zealander from his homeland, and the Bengali from India. The conference cheered to tne echo the uttered belief that | the British navy is the hope and palladium . of the Empire, but they were equally tolerant to the idea of the allied navies of the oversea dominions, of which Mr Gwynne, the editor of the Standard, and others spoke. New Zealand was not represented in the discussion except, indeed, by one of its distinguished sons — Mr F. W. Ward, editor of the Daily Telegraph, Sydney, — who made a very striking speech. " For one thing," he remarked, " I say that, the history of Australia shows the value of the British command of the seas. — (' Hear. hear.') We have lived in perfect security for 100 years. We find a great deal of the national produce ; we have millions of acres of vegetation, which helps to provide for millions." — (Cheers.) The great sea road from Australia to England had always been safe, yet "' never a ship has carried a gun from our shores; nothing but a' flap. The flapf is all." The cheering was prolonged. "But," added Mr Ward, "we must not forget that we are a great empty continent — and a great empty continent is a terrible temptation. And Australia is only one part of the great British Empire. To some nafiona Australia would be an Empire in itself, and if there is any danger we Australians are in it; it is life oi % death to us. If our safety was taken from us then we ha\e lost all." Mr Gwynne's standpoint was an interesting one: '"The Empire is made up of five great nations, as Sir Edward Grey indicated, and national defence must be carried out on the lines of a union of allies. Let eaoh nation be closely allied ; let each have a fleet, with a common Admiralty for all. The Armageddon of the Empire might be | off Cape Horn. If we are going to go in for a happv-go-rucky policy, what compelling force is there to make Australia, for instance, send ships to Singapore or Canada or South Africa?" The resolution endorsed by the conference was as follows :— " That it is the duty of the press to do everything in its power io 00-operate with the naval and military authorities in organising the defences of the Empire, and to take all possible precautions to avoid injury to the public interest in publishing news in time of war. That it is desirable that the press of Great Britain and of the colonies should act in concert, in the wise direction of the surplus population of the Mother Country, with tho«e colonies which stand in need of additional settlers." THE DEBATP>. On Tuesday the subject dowr for discussion was "The Press and the Empire," when the Right Hon. R. M'Kenna, M.P.. Firet Lord of the Admiralty, presided, and directed the attention of the delegates to the problem of defence. There was a wealth of oratory, Mr M'Kenna being followed by statesmen of the .rank of Sir Edward Grey, Lord Cromei, and Mr Alfred Lyttcl-ton, M.P The speeches were of a distinctly interesting character, and both fe.tatesrne'n and ediror joined together in advocating the claims of Empire. In opening the proceedings Mr M'Kenna eid wo always spoke of our Imperial and military problems &e~ the" problems of defence, and it was only from the defensive point of view tliat we ever considered ourselves in relation to other countries. " Quor preat object," continued Mr M'Kenna, "in the maintenance of a navy is to keep open ths highroad of the seas over the waters our borders touch So long -as that bigh-

\ way is open to us, all our lands, separated as they are by thousands of miles. are eon ■ tiguous. So lon,g as we can icecp that highj road open our difficulties of mutual defence, I mutual assistance in common, defence, are not so great as those which a hundred years ago confronted the Government* of any great European country which had the problem of country transport to encounter. I The remotest Dominion is nearer to- ! British shores to-day than the North of France was to the South of France one hundred years ago. The one essential is thaf we should keep the high road of the sea open: That is the gpaat Imperial strategic problem which confronts us. It is that which gives us a quickening esnse, not only of confidence in our dependence upon, but of partnership in, the navy." Ma* M'Keoina went on to say that to England the question of naval defence mr its Imperial aspect covered the whole globe. We could not admit- that we had any less responsibility in one part of Ire Empire than in another. — (Applause.) But when one came to consider the naval problem as it must present itself to the mind of each of the Dominions, it wa, impossible that one could avoid formingdifferent judgments and conclusions. Th>3 sense of partnership in the navy was common to all, but Engiland recognised that in the development of the naval idea in every Dominion that was essential that the mainspring should come, from the Dominions themselves. England could not force strategical ideas upon the colonies. Continuing, Mi MTverana said: If any Dominion came to the Admiralty at Ho;r.e here and asked us what our view was as to the 'best assistance for the purpose of common defence which could be rendered we should be ready with an answer. But we should not necessarily expect you to accept our answer. You will have your own views as to the propel developments of defensive forces in your own dominions. It is only by your working out your own preblema for yourselves that you can ever gain experie*ice. Lessons told you, as it were, by others will never come home to you with the same force as Issons which you have learned for yourselves. We will assist in every way in our power, whatever be the methods by whfech we are asked to assist, and we are sure that in the long run out of this process of selfdeyelopmewt every Dominion will come ultimately to the same conolusion— that the main problem of defence is the same for them all, and that the maintenance o? supremacy at sea means the- maintenance^ of supremacy in all the seas of fife. In conclusion, he appealed to the press to keep tha navy omtside party politics. . Sir Edward Grey began with the follow.Vmv <lefinitlon of our foreign policy : — The fore Ig -n policy of this covwjrv is to keep what we have got, tc consolidate and; develop it, to quarrel as lit% a s possible with other people, and <o uphold in the \ councils of the world and by dplcmacv! those ideals by which we set so much t4Ot 40 ! 16 i Ho wen( : oa to sa y tlmt the- pres* had three functions— (l) criticism, (2) to mould and form public opinion, and (3)> - publishing n«wa. " Criticism is a valuable function," said Sir Edward, "provided it 1 | bo exercued in a way that will make iij , effective." It should never raise a blister I because the part of the body on wnich tho 1 blister was raised remained afterwards less sensitive to criticism. It ought not to bo ' | partisan. Nothing could be more disas- - trous or dangerous than that the press og the Empire should be turned into a mutual admiration eociety. Sir Edward then drew a del'ghtful pic- • tune of the average British elector : — " I wish there was time for you to make th» acquaintance of the average British elector. It is not easy to get at him. Ho ia a very solid person, not ephemeral people like those of us on this platform. It is not easy for us even in our own constituency to know what ho thinks. He does not &..- ways take an active part on political committees. I think he likes good speaking 1 and good writing when it is not too eloquent. If it is too eloquent he begins to be afraid you are taking him in. To sum. him, I think he is a man who often makes mistakes, but he has a solid foundation of enduring good sense, which prevents men cleverer than himself making greatei mistakes than he would make himself. At anyrate. he turns them out of office if ther do. On character the Empire had been, made; on character the Empire must bo maintained. One of the characteristics common throughout the Empire was a senoe oE justice. Sham and pretence were disliked;' and in tho third place he thought they had! made and maintained the Empire by recognising that in all controversies with other countries they had to compromise. Sir Edward deprecated the idea that the British Foreign Office (was more ready to compromise where tht interests 'of foreig- ■ IV3TS were concerned than where British' interests were concerned. Coming to the question of armamenis, I Sir Edward stated that the response from the colonies showed that the Empire beat I with one hear!;. Amid cheers he declared! his endorsement of every word that Lord Rosebory had baid, "We are," he continued, '" in comparatively calm weather, not in stormy weather, in foreign politics. The excessive expenditui-e_ on armaments, however, makes the air sultry. The seriousness of that expenditure cannot be overlooked, and you should know to-day hovn conscious ye are at Home that there is fai? too much at gtake to let our naval expenditure fall behind, whatever the burden. You have shown "how great the sources of the Empire are." Lord Cromer, who followed, said that ono of the greatest Imperial problems of th« future was how these huge Oriental communities were to be governed. It was among them that he had spent some 35 years of his life, and during those years he thought there was no subject that caused! him greater doubt or anxiety than the extent to which our cherished! possession of freedom of discussion should be applied tothose peoples. He approached the subject from the point of view of an English* Liberal, but if a deep interest in the weU fare of those populations which were in an* way brought into contact wi'h the British Empire constituted an Oriental Liberal, h« would lay claim to that ti*!e. During many, years he did whatever little was in hi* power to prevent the editqre of vernacularl papers from committing journalistic suicide. { He could not say upon the whole that hi* endeavours were verj successful. Mr F. Ward (Sydney Daily Telegraph)' said he thought that the history of Australia showed the value of the British command of the seas. For one hundred years the roads of Australia had been as cafe as the streets of London, but would this last* The great empty continent of Australia wa(

*% terrible temptation, and, in "bis opinion, ife was the duty of the outlying portions of i the Empire to do their part in the support of Empire. Australia was willing to ac- , oept the poHoy of fee naval experts of tflis i country. Australia wanted the best policy <wid the highest attainable degree of effi- , siency.— (Applause.) - i Mt Alfred I«yttelton, M.P., -contributed a j stirring speech, and offered «. notable sug- j gestkra. He said: — "I T»elieve it is t&e j case at present thai, when & colony offers , a. ship to "the Empire, that ship -cannot Be ' built or equipped in the Dominion from \ whwh it proceeds, »nd cannot be maimed ot officered effectively in the Dominion from which it proceeds. My «ugg*B*aon is that the snip take her place s& an equal among all the ships of his Majesty's toavy, that it should be named, es.y, after the Dominion which has produced it, sod that the aaniration should be that it should .be | manned and officered ultimately by the citizens of the Dominion which gave it." j Mr Gwynne (London Standard). Mr Mait- | land Clark (Oape Times}, Mr S. Banerji i (Bengalee, Calcutta), sad Mr L. '8. Amery , (London Tknes) continued the discussion, 1 which terminated with a vote of thanks -to j Mr BfKenoa - - ;j