Our Naval Supremacy.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 43354, 25 July 1908, Page 3

Our Naval Supremacy.

k The annual dinner of the Institute 1 of Naval Architects was held at the

Hotel Cecil, when the Earl of Glasgow presided over a large com- • :•* v (president-elect), in ■ )/giving the toast of “The Royal Nayy, M alluded to the recent disaster ;: ,to H.M.S. Tiger. He said they x recognised that in their naval manoeuvres, and in their preparedness for war, risks must be run, and - when they found young lives lost in such h disaster as that they might claim for those who were lost that lives wei;e not less nobly laid down . than the lives of those who were j'? killed in war. He sometimes doubted .'Whether all the people in this country ; quite appreciated what the Naw meant to this great Empire. It . Jiieunt much to other countries, but i . could never impress too often, ■":[>% or too constantly, or too strongly on :y ? people of this country what the , iifaVy meant to us. It means y -ptacticaiiy our existence. It had ;. .03en laid down by no less an authority than the for Foreign . . Affairs that for us the loss of the ycommand of the sea would mean, not defeat, but, conquest. He wished that the people of this country would ; take that to-heart. It was true—y every word of it. It could not be ‘ put , more strongly or with more absolute freedom from exaggeration We aimed at no aggrandisement, no i - acquisition of territory, but we meant ,to keep ourselves secure (applause). I Let them bear that in mind when I they ~ heard, of the burdens of the I naval; estimates. They could not I - escape those burdens if the country I ■ and the empire were to be safe; but I he did plead for a long sighted policy I and a wise and careful consideration I .of what was coming, so that those I . burdens might be spread over from I ■' year to year, and net fall too heavily ■ ; at any one period. He said that I quite apart from questions of party. ■ /..... He had never made, and never would H make, party speeches in regard to the ■ Navy (applause).