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Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 429, 26 November 1918, Page 2

We do not think that anyone will be disposed to deny that the great factor that has enabled us and our Allies to carry on the war until by the grace of God wc were permitted to give the knock-out blow to Germany was the sea-power of the Empire, and when we speak of sea-power we include the mercantile marine as well as the navy. Alone neither would have sufficed, and without their aid the magnificent gallantry of our troops and their French comrades would have been of no avail.

In remote islands, the furthest flung outposts of the great Empire which is our heritage, we are so entirely dependant upon the seas being open to us that it is no wonder that we take an even deeper interest in the exploits of our " Silent Navy " than we do in the deeds of oui own New Zealand soldiers, dear to us though they are. Our sailors' chances have been few, owing to the fact that the enemy ships preferred their '' funk-hole " in the Kiel canal to taking any risk of meeting us upon the high seas. The one naval arm of the enetm that has been of any use to him was the submarines, and the\ gave our warships a wide berth as a rule, preferring, like the cowardly pirates they were, to ! attack harmless merchant ships and to drown civilians and noncombatants rather than face an opponent who could hit back. It may be news to our readers to know that our own submarines which have never attacked a trading vessel, have sunk and damaged more enemy warships in spite of the difficulty of getting at them behind the mine fields than the German submarine, sunk or damaged of ours, thougl

our ships have kept at sea. But, few as their opportunities have been, our sailors have made the most of them. They plunged into every Hght with a dash and I energy that seemed to destroy the | German sailors' nerve, and spoil j the accuracy of their shooting, j The very ships seemed to know] what was expected of them and i to play up to their crews, as wit-1 ness the old Kent pounding along a knot and a-half faster than she had ever been able to go before in her hurry to catch and sink the Nurnberg before darkness set in ; and the Warrior, at Jutland, her steering gear broken down, flying round in eccentric circles bewildering to the enemy, and engaging in turn and seriously damaging six German battleships. " Why should we give lip our fleet, when it has not been beaten ?" asked one of the German envoys. If the German fleet has not been beaten it was because on the only occasion it has ventured out it fled to the shelter of its mine-fields when our battle fleet came within range. Our thin-flanked battle-cruisers had given it such a hammering that it had no heart to stay and meet a foe of its own weight. Magnificent as the services of our N&vy have been, have those of "Mercantile Jack" been any slighter ? Has not his work, indeed, been even more trying and dangerous ? The enemy has killed a greater per centage of our merchant sailors than they have of our fighting ones, and it is quite another thing to take part in a ding-dong fight to what it is to face the hidden death that is not seen before it strikes, or to be shelled and not be able to return a shot. Yet not a ship has ever lain in an English port because It lacked a crew, and scores of times sailors rescued from a torpedoed ship have joined another before their clothes were dry. We owe an unextinguishable debt to the sailors of the mercantile marine, and we are glad to see that the wool-growers of New Zealand are doing something to recognise this by devoting a portion of their profits to a funjJ for their benefit. We trust every other class in the community will follow suit. We cannot leave the subject without saying a word or two as to what the Empire (and the civilised world generally) owes to the Navy League. There is no doubt that that institution has •been the main factor in educating public opinion, and in forcing the British Government to keep the Navy up to a standard which would ensure the safety of the Empire. One of the pastimes of our legislators, who had fads in the ways of social experiments they wished to try, was to attempt to get the money to carry out their schemes by cutting bits off the Navy estimates. And the work of the Navy League has been to prevent this. Two or three years ago, Mr Frederick Gane, universally acknowledged to be an authority of the very first water upon naval matters, wrote : ''The parent of the existing modern British Navy is the Navy League. It is absolutely and entirely due to the Navy League (and the Navy League alone) that the British Navy possesses the naval superiority which it does possess to-day. The House of Commons voted for a strong Navy because the Navy League compelled it to do so, and for no other reason whatever." If the need for a strong Navy League is pressing in the Home land it is ten times more vital here. It is the first line of defence in the British Isles, but in these Australasian colonies it is our one and only bulwark, for we have not the man-power to guard our shores if the Navy fails us. There are in Franklin some 125 members of the Navy League, at present affiliated to the Auckland branch, but shortly, we understand. to be organised into a branch of their own. We trust to see its membership largely augmented, and to find it prove a Southing scion of this Empirewide institution,

DEPRATMENTAL CONTROL In our issue of Tuesday last we referred to the action of the Minister for Public Health (the Hon G. W. Russell M.P.) in countermanding the order issued by his representative In Auckland, the Acting Chief Health Officer (Dr. Frengley), for the closing of hotels, Cabinet subsequently over-riding the Minister's dictum. Again yesterday Mr Russell used his authority con-

trary to a permit given by Dr Frengley for the re-opening of hairdressers' establishments and refreshment rooms in Auckland city and suburbs, the order being vetoed later in the day by the Minister. Surely a capable expert on the spot knows better what the local situation permits of than a Minister stationed in Wellington. Such administration is highly farcical and must necessarily induce public distrust and even disgust of departmental methods. We have yet to learn Mr Russell's explanation of his latest exploit but, as we previously said in these columns, the only logical outcome is that Mr Russell should hand in his resignation as a member of the Government or that Dr Frengley should refuse to work any longer under a Minister who has no confidence in him. For our part we prefer to accept Dr Frengley 's rulings rather than those of the Minister and we are certain that the people of the Auckland Province will view the matter in the same light.