DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 89, 10 December 1912, Page 5

DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE.

B RITISH A PPRECI ATI OX. (By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (United Press Association.) London, December 9. Mr. Bonar Law will to-day ask Mr. Asquith if lie will afford an opportunity in the House of Commons to express deep appreciation of the public spirit and patriotism displayed by the overseas Dominions in contributing to the efficiency of Imperial defence. CANADA’S PREFERENCE. Mr. Gibon Bowles, in a letter to the newspapers, says that Canada’s claim for-representation on the Imperial Defence Council Is very unexpected. Is Canada, he says, to have a veto on war plans and a veto on every important step Britain proposes to take in her foreign policy? He asks why Australia, the Cape, New Zealand, and India, are left out of representation.

THE ADMIRALTY STATEMENT. Melbourne, December 9. A copy of the statement prepared by the Admiralty at the request of the Canadian Government regarding the present and immediately prospective requirements of the naval defence of the Empire lias been tabled in tho House. It points out the importmaterial and still more important moral effect of any assistance Canada might give in maintaining the naval supremacy of Britain on the high seas, at tho same time disclaiming any intention, however indirect, of putting pressure on the Canadian people or seeking to influence the Dominion Parliament in a decision which clearly belongs solely to Canada. It declares that superiority over the sea is essential to the security of the Empire, and reviews at length the expansion cf the German fleet, adding that if the German naval programme is continued great exertions will lie required by tlio British Empire. The report states that whatever Canada’s decision at the present juncture, Britain will not under any circumstances fail to do her duty to the overseas Dominions, as she’did before. She now stoo l unaided, before the most formidable combinations, and had not lost her capacity of watching over the interests of the Empire. Melbourne, December 10. The Admiralty memorandum stales that the development of the German fleet for tho last fifteen years was mosi striking. The development was authorised to give successive legislative enactments covering unt.l 1920. Where as in 1908 the German fleet consisted of nine battleships, excluding coast defence vessels, which comprised throe large cruisers, twenty-eight small cruisers, 113 torpedo boats, and twentylive thousand men, which cosc s'x mi'lions annually, the full fleet in 1920 would be forty-one battleships, twenty large cruisers, 40 small cruisers, 1-11 torpedo boats, and seventy tw; submarines, and 101,500 men, at a cost of £23,000,000 annually. These figures, however, give no real idea of tire advance since. The cost of the ships had risen continually during the period, apart from the increasing total. Germany systematically replaced old small vessels for the most powerful and costly modern vessels. (Received 10, 10.45 a.m.) London, December 9.

Mr. Winston Churchill, replying to Lord Beresford, re-emphasised the fact that Canada’s gift was additional to the British construction.