The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1918. THE EMPIRE AND THE SEA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 419, 18 October 1918, Page 2

The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1918. THE EMPIRE AND THE SEA.

"We nothing extenuate, nor let down aught in malice."

«*- Thk British Empire has one anniversary so intimately associated with its very existence as a commonwealth of tree nations that we feel we need no excuse in once again reminding our readers of it. Monday next, October 21st, will be Nelson Day, which has by common consent come to be accepted as the day on which we commemorate the defeat of the last serious challenge of that seasupremacv that lias been Knglaud's for more than nine cen-

turies. | Focii, like a skilful axeman, is taking out drip after chip on the western front. Not a blow is wasted, but each directed with cousummale precision upon the very spot where its impact will most hasten the fall of the tree. But while we are watching with almost breathless admiration the glorious results of the operations upon land we must not forget the only means that mad? these results possible —the sea-power of Rutland, And when vve speak

of ?ea-power we mean the mercantile marine as well as the Navy. Alone neither would have sufficed. It is quite safe to say that though since the time of the Napoleonic wars, when the British Fleet dominated the waves as they do to-day, the conditions and methods of sea - warfare have altered the principles remain precisely the same. Our fleet's mission is still, as then, to destroy or blockade the enemy's fleet, to forbid the use of the sea to his ships, both of war and of commerce, to capture goods carried for him by neutral vessels and to free the passage for our own cargoes, and to safely convoy our armies to where they are required. Germany, to win the war, should have begun by defeating our fleet. That she can never defeat it now is a certainty, and when once that fact became a certainty the ultimate issue of the war was no longer in doubt, however long or painful the path before us might seem. The German submarine with its method ot ruthless murder of non-combatants is the fitting synthesis of the brutal German mind. It seemed for the moment possible that it might bring about a partial nullification of our seasupremacy. But thanks to the skill, courage and resource of our sailors of both services the menace failed. Had it succeeded victory on land would have been useless to us, as it would have been to the Germans had they failed to break our sea-power. So, still, as always, our future lies upon the sea. I<et that idea once be lost sight of and the Empire's doom is sealed. Our frontiers are nearly all seafrontiers. During four years ot war of a devasting character never known before, and in the face of new and terrible engines ot destruction the Navy has kept these frontiers inviolate so that no enemy has ever set foot on our soil except as a prisoner. And during this anxious and terrible time the mercantile maiine has been the fearless auxiliary of the navy and the fountain head from which it drew its supplies of recruits.

We want workers on the land, we want workers in our factories, but most Important of all to us are the toilers of the sea. Owing to the demands of the Navy and the toll taken by the submarines the greatest need the Empire has to-day is for trained officers for the mercantile marine. The Memorial Fund to the late lieutenant Sanders V.C. is a purely New Zealand undertaking which will be devoted to training officers for the mercantile service. We feel sure our readers will not let NFXSOX DAY pass without giving their aid to so praiseworthy a project.