STATE OF THE NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 67, 15 April 1909, Page 2

STATE OF THE NAVY.

Ever since Admiral ..Sir John Fisher assumed supreme control of the Navy, or, rather, ever since that distinguished Ken. Lord effected his revolutionary changes in the constitution and disposition of the llritisli Navy, there has >bce n a strong agitation m\ the part of a by no means unimportant section of the public in the Old Country for an enquiry jiato the scope and'effect of the changes. l/p to now the agitation has proved unfruitful. Both the Unionist and Liberal Governments have supported Sir John Fisher and his policy and resisted the agitation for the holding of an enquiry, but there are not wanting indications that the demand for the enquiry will not remain unsatisfied much longer. It was stated in yesterday's cables, for instance, that the Premier had promised to give careful consideration t" a letter from several members of the Houses of Lords and Common*, suggesting the setting up of iin enquiry into naval matters, and urging that it is better to ciiquirc before a crisis than after, as in the case of the Army after the Boer War. It is to be hoped Mr. Ascpitth will agree to the appointment of the commission. Xo harm cam possibly result from taking this course; on the contrary, only good can ensue. If it did nothing else but allay the present anxiety, the enquiry would be justified. The public are entitled to know the lrul.lt about the Navy and this desire should be met. The cane for the present regime is admirably put by a writer in a, recent nuni'ber of the London Daily Mail. He says:—"Nominally, the First Sea Lord is 67. Practically, if vital spirits arc any index to a man's real age, he is the youngest Admiral in this or any other service.' His great opportunity did not come until he was over GO. Then came a day when there was offered to him the highest prize of a sailor's ambition in ti of peace—:lhc position of First Sea Lord. But even that honor he would only take on terms. He carried iif his brain a full scheme of rcorgaiiisalion, lie believed the training and distribution of the Navy to be perilously out of date, He had watched the change from .wooden walls to iron citadels "packed with tremendous and exquisite machinery. Yet there had been no fundamental change since Kelson's time in our method of training officers for their profession. There had been a revolution ill our political relations, and it was dear that tin* struggle for life and death in the future .would be fought in the North Sea and ',lO other where. Yel our Heels were still organised as (hough (he Mediterranean would be, as in tiie eighteenth, century, the chief secue of crisis. Our sliips were stationed anywhere but where we would proua.hly have to light. Sir Joha Fisher .-lciU'ly stated his intentions. They ivere approved. He came to the Adm'.rilly to tarry litem out. That is what lie has demc. His activities have been [•evolutionary though constructive, lb' lias been denounced for the sheer daring and resolution of the changes be has introduced. But he was commissioned from the outset In effect them. Thai is whal he was (here for. To the foreign mind, as has been said, he lias appeared like nothing so much as an iiieitrualed torpedo waiting for ils warhead lo be lixed o'u it. Anil 'what has lie none? At Osborne he is training the ollieors of the future lo handle the grim machines which have superseded for ever tUc old vision of masts and sails. He vastly increased elliciency while raluein* expense, lie struck out of the Estimate* every penny which did not yield 'real fighting value, lie most merciless ,V scrapped scores of weak vessels tha r ' o ,\M neither attack nor run. He trans *' le mp " to l ' p<l ' "citing ships Hi. ,\ >a)"il with the inspiration of no thin" j"' Rk " linl ifnins the system o nucleus i *«**• V' wmVl ' n ' cr y '"'l' " the reserv '*—»* le *'l'' m ' p !iml ' w 'f ness of last *<»** object-lesson .how od-can be iu"«»>ilSscil tor war in a fev hours. Above rf ] > !»' s «""? Ih '' »' lo '' licet, as if wevt'j * ,|eilN romil lo fucl (lie tasks of the -.''uttl!*. JTe recognise, that in the twentieth feulury. as m tin seventeenth, the En> re W. ll I "' savw or lost, not in (he V«'>Uw.ii,i.onn. bn< in (he North Sea. !'* our strength in the narrofV« a? hhuJ. n Admiral Mahan's words. ■k'igll.ty-.sfx pel ccnl. of the T!riti»h baltlcsli'p s'treagU is conce'nlrated in or near hon.'O waters. Thai settle* it for (he vast majority 01 Sir John Fisher's countrymen. TheT know (hat battleships are gunS-plat-forms: and not only are the vessels now where we ought to have them, but the aimut'i'v efficiency of our fleet has risen almost by leaps anil bounds, and never has been so formidable a- .today."

ON THE FOURTH PAGE, Commercial, District News. Correspondence, A Gaoler's Life. Opuiiako SporU. Woman's World. Farm and Dairy. Jn the Early Days. Waitara West Road Hoard.