THE BRITISH NAVY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 261, 2 April 1914, Page 7

THE BRITISH NAVY.

THEN AND SOW. AN INTERESTING ADDRESS, 111 responding to a toast to the Na'-y at the veterans' dinner on Tuesday evening, Captain W. G. O'Callaghan delivered some interesting remarks on the subject of naval development and its importance to Britain.

He remarked that liis memory dated back to the time, nearly CO years ago, when steam power was comparatively in its infancy as applied .to men of war, and was looked on merely as an auxiliary power, useful in .caJms and for going in and out of harbors. The engineers were hardly looked upon as officers, or if they were, only as officers of inferior rank. Now they rightly held the honorable position their great responsibilities entitled them to. Smartness aloft in the man, and in 'handling ships under sail in the officers, was pre-emi-nent, and when one considered how much depended on it, this was hardly to be wondered- at. The ships of those days, as compared with those of the present day, were very small. There were few even iirst-rate ships exceeding 3000 tons, but their masts and spars were heavy. The mainmast of a battleship would be from 240 to 250 feet in height, the main yard from 110 to 115 feet long, from two to three feet thick in the centre, and the other spars, in proportion. To instance the smartness of the men aloft, lie mentioned that a ship with all her spars aloft could strike every yard and mast, leaving only the lower masts standing, in 4min 45sec. Topsails could be reefed in 50sec, shortening and- furling sails, when every stitch was set, took from 2to 3 minutes. Gunnery, as compared with that of today. was almost non-existent, thci «reat object l«>ing to get as close to the enemy as possible. Hp bad, however, no fear of contradiction when he stated that the British Xavv then, as now, was superior to that of any other nation. THE '• LITTLE XAVY PARTY." The speaker then referred to what was called at Home the "Little Xavv Party,' which was always earning at the amount of money expended'—umiroduetively. as they said—on the Navy and in the defence of the Empire. It was a pity that party could not be rubbed out, as it did a lot of harm. The British Navy was with good cause sdoken of as the glory of the nation. Britain was proud of her vast commerce, as great as that of half the world, and still prouder of her Colonial Emoire, whicih was the envy of Europe. The French, the Germans, and other nations were striving or had striven to rival Britain in founding colonies, but were hopelessly outdistanced in the race. Portugal. the first and at one time the greatest of the colonising nations, bad tried' to make up "leeway," but ill vain. Notwithstanding Britain's preeminence in the-e fields of Imperial greatness, it was the Xavv that was the glory of Britain. Without an overwhelming superiority at sea, she could not hope either to nnrjitain her freedom, retain her colonies, nrotect her mercantile marine, or even hold India, the base for retaining which was the ocean. The day that Britain ceased to rule the waves would be the -first of her decline and fall, and she would have to pay ransom to live within the narrow limit gf her islands, while she would be stripped of her. oversea nossessions and fall to the condition of Portuoal. We had every reason to be grateful to that noble and unequalled service, which guaranteed us the quiet possession of these necessities of Imperial greatness, and no expenditure of money could be deemed too great to maintain Britain's naval superiority over any two great Powers or even u possible combinat>»« of European' States. ■