The Daily News FRIDAY, AUGUST 14. THE LESSON OF THE FLEET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 201, 14 August 1908, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, AUGUST 14. THE LESSON OF THE FLEET.

lhe tiuiN'iaij-.of the Welcome .\c\v Zv-a-i.iuu aocu'ucii , tin. j,, x ., u makers- ui luc tinted .jlucs -X.ivy j.-. a:i cunt ciai asaarcu.y Has nui. uluji pas.,eu wiuioiii, iiuo.ee oy ihc ouriui liioiuii, huouvjU are iu luc raculc. mi o.e.e pageaiiL oi the Heel in AucKi.inu iiiOnMi'.u.oa of an am.iiice inui no Uiolumacy nor truiiy io cement; me more tliaii coi'diality ol the wcicomi is an assurance, as wupliaiie as -sew Zealand can uniKe il, tliat We seiiuuieiiis of Aiiatral.isia arc iu thurougil accord with those of uie Enilcd staucs, ill tile dominion- of Die u-Jiiio juee wJierever it is established. Probably lion;will ever know the real reasons "which. | aciuatcd President liooSevelt iii des palclung his liatlJcliip sipiadron on it-iiis-lorie voyage. .None, however, rioiiuu iiiat its mission is entirely pcacei'ul, bin may it noi be that it was intended, in a measure, to be pcace.-comp-llii.:;-; .\ligiif liierc not tie more than mere u>mculciKx- in the. Jiict thai iiic Lniica' Suites iiccl is timed to be at iiaiiira ci.inciilcut with the appointed time for the Mg.dug of the Japanese liuiiiigiation livaljy u'hether a'eci'deiit or ile.-.ig.i, iiie- signilftance of Amcr.ea's "peaceful', naval demonstration, so near to her shores, is not likely to be loot upon a people to impressionable as tliu Japanese. Americas 'naval invasion of tho I'iicilic is, therefore, a. matter for the widest satisfaction to tho people ot Australasia.

Jt is no idle sentiment that welcomes tha Might of America to the -waters of tho Southern .'l'acilic, and that deepcii ieclings animate the representatives ol , -both countries was amply boriyj out in , lliir speeches delivered iu Auckland on , Monday. Sailors, while not usually - orators. Have a way of their own of expressing their sentiments, saying bluntly what they moan and meaning what they say. In this respect, Admiral I Sperry sounded a siguilicant note in his [ utterances, wlliich was indeed the dominant note of all tiro, speeches during.' the day. The address to . President Roosevelt from New Zealand, handed to the Admiral, emphasised the'- fact that the British and the Americans are peoples of a common blood, possessing a scommon civilisation, having national aspirations in common. Admiral Kperry, for his part, improved upon niiis by reference, in one of his speeches, to the common interests of Britain and America iu the Purine. The remark is one which, were it not for the context, might be liable to misconstruction, but ( it .was Hi reality an observation that ] wa s fully justified by the circumstances of the case. ■ For it is a geographical ] fact that the two whiße nations hold i material possessions in.the Pacific-which | constitute, as Admiral Kperry says, ail i almost unbroken chain of Anglo-Saxon interests. And the existence of a sense ' of kinship aud friendship botween the ! British and American 'people may ren- { sonably be regarded as a valuable inj ilucnco that is capable of being exerted I in the protection of those interests, 'wliidli, solar a's we ars concerned, would be more fully guaranteed by such a combination than.under any possible alliance of Britain with an Asiatic Power, whose interests are not ours.

'Jim eaii-c of international peace—a cause which President Roosevelt lias very much at heart, and which Kin;; Edward has dune more than any ether Sovereign in the world to advance in a practical manner—is, However, dependent for its promotion upon something more than mere sentimental alliance. Some guarantee* is required, as Admiral Sperry pointed nut, that the principles of peace shall bo preserved, and, in the Misting state of all'airs that guarantee caii only bo given by liroparodnoss for war. The (wo Heels which arc; represented In Xew Zealand at the prcsviil time stand powerfully for pent.., and Oho hope will be commonly entertained throughout the .British Enipiiv that the time may never come when thi-r will cease to make for the maintenance of tile just and legitimate interests of I heir respective nations—the English-sp-ak-ing world—tliroughout Hie I'aciliy nnii all over the globe. It will be a source of legitimate gratification to Xew '/. ■;..- landers that the reception which lias boon accorded the ile-et in Auckland rets been of such a kind to call for.expressions of deep appreciation from l|ie visitors. JJnt it is. alter all, only an

earnest, as (ho visitors have tihomselves interpreted it, of the reality of Uic ties of blood and friendship' that liinil the Briton ami tlio American together. For .though technically the United Status is a foreign country, British people do not forget tDi.it the Americans came from the same stock themselves, ami that the rise of America as a naval Power second only to Britain herself is a cause not -for .apprehension, hut for satisfaction.