The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1914. NAVAL DEFENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 292, 13 May 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1914. NAVAL DEFENCE.

An iiflportast statement was made in the South last week by the versatile Minister for Marine in connection with the naval policy of the Dominion. Just whether he was speaking for the Cabinet is hard to say.; it seems strange that the pronouncement should have coma from the junior member of the Ministry j and not from tlie Defence Minister, ife stated that none of the Government's proposals would be acted upon until the Defence Conference is held next year. In other words, the inauguration of the separate local navy is meanwhile to be suspended. It is to be hoped that the Minister was speaking by the Book, because the delay will give the country an opportunity of expressing its opinion of a proposal upon which it has never been previously consulted. At the same time, the delay will, as pointed out by Sir Joseph Ward, place New Zealand in the position of giving no consideration meantime to the Imperial Navy for its protection, as under the Act of last

session the old arrangement under which £IOO,OOO a year is contributed has been repealed. This furnishes another instance of the Government acting first and thinking afterwards, Whatever may be the judgment of the country in respect to Sir Joseph Ward's general politics there can be no doubt that his naval policy is as intrinsically sound as the Government's is unsound, and that if the issue is placed properly before the country, his policy would be overwhelmingly supported. The Government, because it states that the Ad- : miralty has repudiated the Naval AgreeI ment of 1901), proposed to start building

a. small local navy. The idea is so I mistaken and extravagant that we wonI ler how an}- set of level-headed men could have given it a moment's considerj ation, let alone put it forward as one of I the main planks of a party's platform. I The objections to such a course are well | summarised by a southern contemporary jin these words:—"(1) Anything that I New Zealand can do would be wholly in- | adequate as an effective force; (2) it | is absolutely beyond our meaii3 now, or j in the near future, to provide an adeI quato force; and (3) whatever the I strength of that force, whether singly | or in combination with Australia, it I would bo powerless to resist the one 9 probable enemy to be feared in the 1 Southern Pacific. And the conclusion I to which the consideration of these pro- | positions has brought us is that now | and for a generation to come the fate of ;, New Zealand and of Australia is dependient upon the continued supremacy of the British Navy; therefore, on selfish grounds alone we must support that Navy in the way the British Government and the Admiralty, after due deliberation in conference with the Prime ■ Ministers of the oversea dominions, think best." The "one probable enemy" referred to above is Japan, and by her alliance with that country, Britain has shielded us from danger from that quarter for probably many decades to come. By all means, let us go on with training seamen for the Navy, and providing for our coastal defence by the purchase of submarines, destroyers, hydroplanes, etc., but the starting of what has not inaptly been described as a "toy navy" will only land us into needless expense. Far better devote the half-million or more it will entail to the upkeep of the Imperial Navy. We cannot believe that the Home Government would refuse to accept such a subsidy. In the past they have cordially assented to whatever assistance we have vouchsafed. Tt has been precious little, it must be admitted, but it showed that we were not altogether unmindful of our obligations. Upon the British Navy we mu*t depend for our protection for years to come, and it is emulating the ostrich to believe that anything we can do in New Zealand or Australia in the meantime will preserve us from outside molestation. In the House of Commons a few weeks ago, the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. Winston Churchill) stated the position truly when he said: "If the victorious European Power des sired any territorial expansion or naval • stations in the Pacific, there would be ' no forces which Australia and Xew Zca- . land could command which could efl'ec- | tively prevent it. Jf Japan cho-e to , indulge in ambitions of empire or eolnnis- ' ation in the South Pacific, she would | be no loser so far as the European situa- > tion was concerned. But we should have ' lost at a sl'- 0 i :f . jo, . m .; lns | >o t!i of maki ing our friendship .serviceable and our t hostility effective. There are no means | by which, in the next 10 or \i years. , Australia and New Zealand e:!n e:;iiect to maintain themselves single-handed. ' If the power of Great Britain were shattered on the sea the only course open to the five millions of white men in the Pacific would be to seek the protection of the United States. From this point of view the profound system of the polity hitherto adopted tiy W,v Zealand lean be appreciated.

DIIK.SK A KM) COST (I!-' LIVING. A larye nnuhiber of the world's e.-ono-mi-U lafi: racked their t.irnin- for a satisfactory explanation oi (lie eansc to which iiie cost uf living ir. due. Naturally they do not in 111• i;• conclusions. Incidentally tlieoiic- have been advanced, 1,;, i for iHit mi.! nut ingenuity the lion (if Dr. Taylor, of I he Pennsylvania l.'niver.sity. easily lieads I lie li-< r.f Imnimiries (o sheet a benolk'e'it '.\i-d'o:n on a benighted raee, llih pi and. fertile ininil has evidently sueli li'iii:ii!» pmtvrs that i( ir.av hp r<-#r«rd'.*«l as a rival of the X-rays, or a c-ittrt■ pn - lion of 111 at, marvellous product of science ami a species of menial rol:;!:n. In ihe dreadful truth it appiars i i ill'.:; thai the hiuh <•, . u" living •* ilun to t!:c fact (iiat v, om":i

aro no longer wearing unifer-clothing, or [ at least are wearing it not so ioug as j they used to, he has propounded a | theory so startling that' the wonder is j how it was evolved, but until ho satis- I lies public curiosity on tin's delicate mat. \ ter all that can 'be done under the cir- i cumslaneos is refrain from idle specuhtion. Tho veil of mystery is, however, ', partially drawn aside by Dr. Taylor— j not as to the process upon which tin.' I theory is founded, but as to the connection between women's underclothing

they found it necessary to eat at least ten per cent, more food, hence the present high prices. They arc simply eating us out of house and home. Aftei such an avowal, what lady would dare to eat a hearty meal, or would have the audacity to preßs a lady guoat to do justice to the good things of the table provided for her delectation? It would not bo surprising to find that Dr. Taylor in the largeness of his academic mind j and the sweet simplicity of his gentle i soul has, like many another philosopher, ; come to the conclusion that all causes of disturbance are due to woman, and particularly to Eve. In fact, it may have occurred to hiin that the first woman of the human race exactly fitted into the indictment. If so, he can neither be complimented on his gallantry nor his originality. Some modern women may approach as near as they dare to tho conventional garment or garments of Eve, but they are exceptions, and to suppose for a single instant that the few women who adopted the scanty raiment craze produced any effect on the economical problem of the cost of living is far too like a fairy tale. Perhaps the learned doctor ha 3 been amongst the fairies!