THE RECENT BRITISH NAVAL MANOEUVRES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE RECENT BRITISH NAVAL MANOEUVRES.

THE LESSON. THEY TAUGHT. ENGLAND'S HUGE TASK. Writing to a Sydney friend, a member of the House of Commons thus discusses the recent naval manoeuvres:—

Although the Red Fleet was only half the number of the Blue Fleet, and also had slower and inferior ships, it was judged to have succeeded in landing no less than 28,000 men. What, therefore, might an enemy do with a fleet i.qual, or superior, at all events, in numbers? Should an enemy succeed in 'anding troops what have we there to oppose th*m with? Beyond a few thousand regular troops—nothing. The Territorial force .is admitted by experts in its present state to be useless if suddenly called upon to confront a Continental trained' arruv.

If you have any doubts upon the military strength of the United Kingdom, I suggest your perusing a speech made by our present Secretary of State for War at tlia Royal United Service Institution. That we are drifting into i most■■iin'garous and critical crisis may be judged from what the First Sea Lord recently said in the House: "The task of maintaining the naval po.ver of the Empire under existing conditions is a heavy one. All the world is aiming as it never armed before. We have to face the simultaneous building by many nations of great modern ships of war." Referring to the crisis of last September Lord Charles Keresfcrd. replying to the Prime Minister, stated: "Next year you will have to set to work to build a fleet for the Mediterranean. May you not be too late. Supposing you had war come suddenly on you last September, you stood a very good chance of being beaten. The Prime Minister knows perfectly well that the fleet was divided, and that they were not equal to the German High Fleet at sea. But it is a positive fact, for our fleet was- divided —some at Cromarty, some at Berehaven, some at Portland, and there were other little things, serious things, which I do not think it wise to mention in public. I wrote myself to the Prime Minister a letter, in which I pointed out a number of little things, that there were no sentries for the magazines, and no sentries for the dock gates, and the fleet was divided, .and if we had been suddenly attacked we should have been at such a tremendous disadvantage that we should probably have been beaten. It was all very well to scoff. It did not occur, but had it occurred, I do not think the right hon. gentleman would have been on that bench. He would probably have been hanging on a tree in Hyde Park." War may come very suddenly; in fact, the probability is that the only notice you will receive will be the outbreak of hostilities. If the white races decide for good or evil to measure their strength in what must be the most gigantic struggle this world has ever beheld, at its conelusion in what position and of what value will be the white men's possessions south of the line::