The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1929 BORAH AND THE GUNS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 551, 2 January 1929, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1929 BORAH AND THE GUNS

AMONG New Year messages of international significance, one is that of Lord Sydenham, a pillar of the Navy League, and another is that of Senator W. E. Borah, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States Senate. Lord Sydenham advances the extraordinary doctrine that the time is not ripe for disarmament efforts, which /would he better postponed; and Mr. Borah deplores the existence of the present “lawless conditions of the sea” as the most disturbing factor in the peace programme. lie believes that, instead of building warships and competing actively in armaments, Britain and America should co-operate to remove the actual conditions which m ake men-of-war and armaments necessary. Mr. Borah’s statement may seem idealistic and impracticable. American visionaries of Mr. Borah’s type often have a smug and irritating way with them. Still, his remarks have more to commend them to thoughtful people than the somewhat over-candid utterances of Lord Sydenham. It may be true that the American naval programme threatens to infringe upon the spirit, if not the letter, of the various pacts and understandings reached between the nations, but it is hard to see how a bad situation can be improved by throwing forbearance to the winds. If Britain were to set about building ship after ship, her action would constitute a definite challenge to other nations. The United States, France, Japan and probably Germany, would not hesitate to take up the challenge. Of these, the first nation is at the present time in the happy position of having greater resources than any of the others. The nation that calls the tune, under these circumstances, will find it difficult to pay the piper. Though America has its great resources of gold and industrial plants, it is unquestionable that it does not yet possess a naval tradition. Its system of manning its ships—and running them, too —is considered by experts to have many flaws. The American navy has curious features for British eyes. The inference to be drawn from a serious examination of the American naval system is that, whatever weight of ships and shells the United States puts on the water, it is not, at this stage of its development, in a position to become the leading sea-power in practice. So while America may betray an apparent indifference to the lines of policy set out as a basis for naval construction by agitated overseas observers, the factor of its fighting strength, as apart from guns and ships, must not be overlooked. With this factor is the indifference of the great bulk of the American people to naval plans and proposals. The populous cities of the mid-West have no more than an abstract interest in their fleets. That sort of an attitude is not the foundation for supreme naval strength. Again, the remarks of men like Mr. Borah', who have their prototypes in Britain and on the Continent, show that thoughtful statesmen will continue to dissent when extravagant naval plans are raised. Pacts and agreements have so far shown themselves to be nothing more than play-grounds for the manoeuvrings of politicians and diplomats. The attitude of naval experts toward them is indicated by a cable to-day, which says the new German cruiser-type is regarded as “a triumph of German inventiveness over the Versailles limitations.” The naval architects of Germany are not alone in trying to defeat the object of the limitations. Every other nation interested in navies is trying to do. it to-day, and only an international sentiment against the principle involved can prevent disaster as a result. Imprudent naval preparations will spell a heavy financial burden for both present and future generations. Worse than that, however, is the implied threat of war.

RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS IT IS intended to introduce in the present session of the British Parliament a Bill to amend some of the provisions of the will of Cecil Rhodes which relate to the Rhodes Trust. Further powers are sought for the trustees in administering and distributing Rhodes Scholarships, one of these extensions being power to place scholars in any university in the British Empire or the United States. Cecil Rhodes was on Oxford man, and his object in endowing the Rhodes Scholarships was to secure for outstanding British colonial, American and German university students the benefits of residence and study at Oxford. And there can be no disputing the value of the Oxford influence on the subsequent life of the individual student, although we in New Zealand may have cause for regret that so few of our returned Rhodes Scholars have found their way into public life. But it is possible that if Rhodes were alive to-day he might see beyond Oxford—to Cambridge, perhaps, to Harvard and Yale and Princeton, to the McGill University in Montreal, to Sydney or Melbourne, even to New Zealand. Because, magnificent gift as it was to lay the learning and traditions of Oxford at the feet of British overseas youth, the events of the last 20 years have given a new standing to the leading universities of the British Dominions and of the United States, and the ultimate object of Rhodes’s great plan—to train the future leaders of the world—may be accomplished fully as well now by sending a New Zealander to study in Canada, a Canadian to South Africa, and a South African to the United States, as by sending all three of them to Oxford. It is probable that the great majority of Rhodes Scholars will wish still to have their scholarships made tenable at Oxford —and presumably a choice will be allowed—but the trustees are wise to recognise the new importance of binding the Dominions to each other, and of fostering a better understanding with the United States; for there is no better means of educating any country in the problems of any other than by facilitating exchange of visits between their young people; and university students should be among the most receptive young people in any land.