THE BRITISH NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 108, 3 June 1909, Page 3

THE BRITISH NAVY.

Writes a London correspondent : While the enemies of Sir John fis'ier rail tit h'un in articles, letters, ani speeches, and call tor an inquiry into Admiralty administration, Hie 'First Sea Lord"has no lack of able champions. Only a naval expert —au fait with the" working of our naval system can properly estimate the value of the arguments for and against that system, Out the articles now appearing in the times ill reply to " A Critic's" recent attack on the Admiralty dm certainly appear to make short Hoik ol that gentleman's case. In Mr W. X. Stead Sir John Fisher lias another stalwart defender, an.l Mr Frank Jl rris, in this week's " V>l- - Fair;' also weilds a rapier pen in the. First Sea Lord's helialf. To a critic's suggestion that the only way to have a proper licet is through an Admiral's .Stall' (the Admiral Still) of the Imperial German Navyi, Mr. Harris replies: "So we are to go to the Germans to learn naval organisation, are we '; We had thought that it was Germans who came to us to learn about naval matters. It would be difficult to persuade us thai any Admiral Stab in the world is as good as Admiral of real genius, lik .Sir John Fisher. We prefer a despot, when we get an able one, to any of Government.''

As for the present condition of the British Navy, Mr Frank Harris declares : ".Sir John l-'ishur has done more fo' the efficiency of Hie Navy as a "hole than any oilier man smce Nelson. T.ie British Navy is now as iueontrovertibly superior to that of any other people as it was alter Trafalgar, and under Sir John Fisher no one has done so much for the efficiency of the Navy as Admiral Sir Percy Scoll, who ha.-, the first, officer to bring gunnery practice into esteem on our battleships. It is hardlv too much In say Unit good shooting in the Navy generally, dates from the moment when he first came to command, and what lie did on the Terrible during the South .-Urica-i War is known to everyone and appreciated by the masters in both services. I vi "' 3 - , i "lint, of course, vou cannot lia\c :'. strong man at the head of a.iy adiinn- | istration without enemies, eiivyings, | jealousies."