"DARK-HORSE" DREADNOUGHTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 233, 6 November 1909, Page 4

"DARK-HORSE" DREADNOUGHTS.

MYSTKHIKS Ol l ' .UUDJiKX i'LKKTS. Tho-e w ]io ait iit all behind t.iie ••wiies in international polities and the •lark way* of modern diplomacy an* £1 rally interested just at present in the apl'caranee on tliu political horizon of a large number of "Dark-horse'' Dreadnoughts.

Ships of the improved Dreadnought type, the very latent ami most terrible o| war ever devised by man. and costing nearly two inillioji pounds apiece, have been ordered* by liltb' Powers who on the face of things will not know what to do with them when they have got them, and eould sea reelv aJlord to pay for them if they did.

*But. the orders are being pushed oil nevertheless in Uritish, Japanese, and Herman yards, and people w.ho are noted for their ability to discern whieh way the wind Idows in the world of diplomaey are beginning to think that things are not exaetly "what they seem.*

For instance, a Dreadnought of tlh. very latest type is at present being built in Ihe naval yard* at Danzig, in ticrmany, for South America, besides lour large turbine torpedo bo,its. Kn•piiries, however, have failed to eiieit any information as to which of the South American Kepublies U earnestly iu need ol a two-million-ponnd Dreadnought. We ourselves >iiave recentlv completed in private yards two DreadK'.;igiiN for I'razil. of a superior type I o any which we have ourM'lve*. de-pite lit.- fact that Kra/.il can *earcelv lie reckoned a< one of the "(ireal. Powers" fV< in a naval point of view, ami it. is

•;:i i .Miyliiinu' tor i hem to do at all n>:uii.ejiMir«iU' with ihe com uf building and ii /iii L.lining I lietn. Then, too, Austria, the great ally of our Herman neighbor*., has -uddenly developed a de-ire to enter the ii*4s as a lirst-clasw naval power.

Siie ha* ordered four of the largest type *• »* Dreadnought. three I'aM. cruiser*, a lid <i lioM of Mibniarines. torpedo craft, and niher -.hip-'. all to he built, within the next four year-. What are they wanted for? Hitherto Austria has never been regarded a naval power at al!.

And mow. on tup of all this, and the fuel thai 11;iI\ i* alnnM doubling her navy. ei-ine-j tin 1 announcement thai Spain i- oii'-e again coming into tin* naval world a- a lirsi , la->* mm power.

>he is now hnwng built in ber own dockyard* and in this country a ileet which will make her a lone to be severely reckoned with international dispute*' which may nri»e in future. I>ul ;iol:ody <|iiite knows what she want* it for.

The M-ven great nav.i l power* have hitherto been Uritain. (Jermany. France, b'ussia. Italy. Japan, and the I'nited Stales. "Why have Brazil, Austria, ami I Spain, to say nothing of several ''vei | smaller powers, now entered the lists'; ! Hearing in miml the relative wealth ! of the respective count lie*, their industrial resources, and Hie stakes they defend, the slims which *ome of the small nations are devoting to their lleets are altogether out of proportion to their wealth. Why, then, do they build them? In several instances (he sacritiees which arc being 1 made by small nations to support their navies U explained by Ihe action of their neighbors; but in other cases it is due to the belief that in the time of Avar between two powers ait opportunity mav oiler of. lending a hand to one of the antagonists with every likelihood of a rhdi return. Onlv live rears ago-just before the outbreak of hostilities in the Far East, i.i fact four of 'llie new battleships just built for the Chilian and Argen line (o:\ernnients, (wo of which were built in Jap:in and two in Italy, were /old to Finland and -lapui. Who is going to buv llie "My.-der.v" Dreadnoughts that are now being built all uver the world'.'—Pearson's Weekly.