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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 305, 17 May 1913, Page 10

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SPEECH on naval efficiency. i • A SLAP AT RF.P.F.SFORD. At the annual'dinner of the Association of Chambers of Commerce at Whitehall, London, last month, Vice-Admiral Sir Percy Scott, in responding to the toast of ''His Majesty's Sea and Land Forces," proposed by Mr. Stanley Machin (who asked if the rumor of the gallant .officer's retirement from,the service were true), said: The rumor that I am going to retire from his Majesty's Navy is perfectly correct. I could remain on the active list for another year if I wanted to, but by so doing would only. delay the promotion of my juniors. lam sure that I shall be voicing the opinion of I the whole of the Navy and the Army when I say how deeply we have felt the, loss of those brave naval and military"] officers and their companions who sacrificed their lives in the interests of science and discovery. Commerce and the Navy are linked together; one cannot exist without the other. The Navy is necessary' to protect the commerce, and coiumorce is necessary to provide the money for a Navy. Upon - successful commerce depends the existence, welfare and happiness of the Kingdom. (Cheers). You naturally wish our Navy to be strong, and you ask whether it is strong and efficient enough to protect your interests. We Officers of the Navy share with you the desire that the Navy shall be strong enough to protect your business, but we have another motive for wishing our Navy to "be strong and efficient. In your interests our ships may have to, fight; in those fights one ship will probably go to the bottom of the ocean: We like, after the fight, to be in the ship : that remains on the top of the ocean. (Laughter). This upper position will undoubtedly be held by the ship that most efficiently uses the weapons she is provided with for sending the oilier ship to the lower position. (Laughter). That our ships, after an action, should be in the upper of the two positions I have referred to will depend upon" the number of ships that we bring against the enemy and the dexterity with which they fight. As regards the necessary number, it depends upon many . things which are outside the scope of an ordin- ' ary officer's business. To know how many ships and what sort of ships we ought to have it was necessary to know whom we are going to fight and what the strength of their navy is and will be. These necessary data are probably better known to the Lords of the Admiralty than anyone else, so they settle the number that we want; and then the' Treasury, who do not know, often cut it down. (Hear, hear). As regards the effiicency of the fleet, the Chamber of Commerce must be guarded in accepting all that they hear. SLEEP COMFORTABLY IN YOUR • BEDS. The First Lord of the Admiralty, being an interested party, will, of course, tell you that everything is well with the Navy, and that you can sleep comfortably in your beds. Having slept comfortably, in the morning you pick up your paper and read that the British Navy is a fraud on the public and a danger to the State; that if "we went to war we should suffer a crushing defeat; that our ships have no bottoms and our admirals no brains—(laughter)—that oirf admiralty administration is wilfully culp'iable and criminally wrong; that the fighting efficiency of the country's first line of defence is imperilled; that in our fleet there is nothing but disorganisation, demoralisation and confusion; that the very existence of our colossal Empire is in the gravest possible danger; and that if the country only knew the truth there would be a panic. (Laughter). You look at the signature under the gaseous bomb, and you again sleep comfortably in yoiii bed. (Laughter). No Navy can be perfect. The administrators can only be expected to keep on improving it by introducing new ideas, new methods and new mechanism. The officers and men can only be expected to improve themselves in education, in science, and in acquiring tht necessary knowledge to fight our modern ships. In these respects greater strides have been made during the last eight years than in any other eight of the the forty-seven years that I have served in his Majesty's Navy. Without hesitation, I can say that the British Navy has never been in a more efficient state than it is to-day-*-and I have no axe to grind. (Cheers). INEFFICIENT GUNNERY PRACTICE. The; Navy Estimates before Parliament are large, but, concerning a factor of efficiency that I am very much interested in, I do not consider they are large enough. The factor of efficiency I allude to is hitting the enemy, and it is only hit-' ting an enemy that will decide a fight. But you will not hit your enemy in war time if you do not have sufficient practice in peace time. We do not get sufficient practice in.peace time, because we do not spend enough money on ammunition. Economy in ammunition in peace time means bad shooting in war time, and that means losing an action. (Hear, hear). If we have got enough money to increase the allowance of our practice ammunition, and if we arc absolutely certain that the number of ships that it is" proposed'' to build is not sufficient, I would reduce that number and spend th« money so saved in perfectly target practice appliances and in increasing the allowance of ammunition fired by our fleet in peace time. (Cheers). In this view I do not think that you could ., find a single naval officer that would not support me. Accuracy of shooting is of more importance than number of ships, and accuracy of shooting can only be obtained by constant practice. (Cheers). The present Board of Admiralty have during the last two months done more towards improving the gunnery of our fleet than has been done in the last five years, and this is in my opinion the most important of the many improvements that they have introduced. (Cheers). Economy in the Navy is of no great matter, but if we are to have economy I say double the hitting power of the ships, and then von can halve the number of them. This little speck of an island is a buyer, and it pays well. The Continent of Europe is rich in everything, and they only supply us with everything they don't want, themselves. We get fruit, bread, vegetables and eggs from them. Your chambers of commerce arrange with these friendly countries that we should get our eggs for breakfast. The duty of the Navy is to guard those eggs 'while they are in transit on the ocean. If we have a strong Navy nobody will try to steal those eggs, and we will remain at peace with all the world. We will take cure of those eggs while they are on the ocean, and as soon as they are landed they must be guarded either by a voluntary Army or by an Army who, whether they like it. or not, have been trained to guard your hearths and homes. (Cheers).