COST OF THE FLEET.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 1, 3 January 1916, Page 2

COST OF THE FLEET.

■VEEY CHEAP AT THE PRICE,

A MEEE 2D PER HEAD. In a recent speech, Mr. McKemia stated that the maint inane. l 'of the British Fleet would involve an expenditure in the current financial year, which Willis on March 31st net, of £190,000,000. Mr. Archibald Hurd, in an interesting article in the Daily Telegraph, calculates that the gross sum which would have been devoted to t-hff upkeep of the navy had no war occurred would total to £54,000,000. This' leaves £130,000,000 as the war charge for the fleet.

No one will deny (says Mr. Hurd) we are obtaining our naval protection at a very cheap rate. The navy is not on.lv our bulwark against' invn--1 sion, but it is our bread line; it carries our armies on its back over the sea—here, there, and everywhere; it is our our'munition line, and in some measure that of our Allies; it is also our money-box, for the success of t-he recent war loan and the ability of the nation to pay cheerfully tiro new taxes depend on the sufficiency and efficiency o fthe fleet. But it may be said that even £130,000,000 a year is a great deal of money. It is; but it is considerably less than is spent every year in this country on alcohol. The comparison is only of interest as an aid to a due appreciation of the relatively light burden whic-h the navy is casting on the nation over and above the normal expenditure upon it.

INTERESTING FIGURES. The' matter may be carried a step further. There are approximately 46,000,000 inhabitants of the United Kingdom; the naval war charge is equivalent to less than £3 a head for a whole y«Sar, or 2d a day. But the navy, though it is being paid for by '•■he people of these islands, is defend* fng .all the Empire. There are just over 00,000,000 white subjects of the King—62,500,000 to be." exact—so that tiro annual per capita rate for naval protection in war which they would pay, if all paid equally, would be £2 3/6, spread over the .365 days from Anrir 1 last to March 3.1 next.

Thus, we riach the end of a calculation, perhaps not without interest. Is the navy worth the money? It ic a good war invesment at the rate of 2d v. day contributed by every person In the British Isles? It is possible to answer such a question only if \vc '■•onsider what work the British navy

is accomplishing. By this time everyone can mentally review the services -which the fleet is rendering us and our; Allies, for the subject is a familiar one. It is feeding us, transport-

ing our armies, giving- us munitions, and generally supporting the Allies. AS MUCH SPENT ON ALCOHOL. Had it not been for- the British navy what would be the state of Europe to-day? Everyone has come to realise that it has stood as the insuperable barrier between Germany and the dominion of Europe, if not eventually of the wholo world. Week by week these services are being rendered at a cost w-hieh, if distributed over the whole population of the Empire, would amount to Od or so a week. The navy constitutes Uvs cheapest insurance policy which was ever issued. Many householders pay much more by way of fire insurance, andthe average working man pays as much for his liquid refreshment, whilst his tobacco must cost him nt least half as'much. No wonder the Germans regard us with envy, which has- turned to hatred, when t-liey know at how small an expense we are being protected, with the result that in the current year we can afford to devote £715,000,000 to the armies thick are confronting them, besides finding a matter of £-123,000,000— for that is the estimated sum for t- T ie twelve months —for loans to our Allies. The ■matter may be left at that. The cheapness of the British fleet is one i of the revelations of the war.