A STRONG RIGHT ARM
NEED FOR ADEQUATE NAVY. TO PROTECT EMPIRE'S TRADE • BOOTES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Welling lon, Last Night. ' Admiral Jellicoe was entertained , at' luncheon by the New Zealand Club today. The Uovernor-Uential presided. in the course of his remarks, Lord dellicoo said one of the objects of his nilssion was to do what was possible to ensure cooperation and homogeneity between the different forces of the Em? pire. New Zealand recognised the absoludc dependence of the Empire on sea power and the ability to use sen power. it meant they had to inculcate in youths tho call of the sea, and to foster the nercantile marine, which played a very large part in the defence uf the Empire in wiir. But for the mercantile marine ilio war would have been over about It) 15, and he did not know what would have happened to New Zealand in that ease. The navy was absolutely essential to the Empire. There was a tendency since peace was proclaimed to think there was no hurry to be ready lor the next war. History showed that one war bred another, and if you want to be at peace you must be prepared for war. "Therefore," he said, "I strongly urge my fellow countrymen not to be penny wise and pound foolish, because tho cost of being ready for war is infinitesimal compared with the cost of one month of war, and we would be illadvised if we listened to any suggestion that there is no occasion to be in a hurry to get our defences into proper order." The Pacific was au ocean growing in importance every day. It contained great possibilities of trouble. There were elements which might give rise to future international complications, but statesmen would get more easily over those if they had a strong right arm behind them. Thej- wanted a striking force, a trado protective force, and force for the protection of harbours. He bad endeavoured to separate those forces in the report he had presented to Australia; Ever since 1912, they had been gradually weakening our naval forces abroad, with the result that when the crashcame the forces out here were inad#i qunto to protect British trade. The ex-' ' perience of the war had ehown bow difficult it was to hunt down even one enemy raider. The Emden, for instance, had many narrow escapes. Few people knew how narrow some of those escapes were. H.M.S. Hampshire passed within ten miles of her in early morning in a rain squall. The Moewe add Wolf were similar instances. The difficulty of preventing the escape of raiders was greater than it ever was and therefore the number of vessels required for trado protection was greater than ever before. They needed a great many more cruisers than they had before the war. They should base the number of cruisers, npt on the number of German cruisers, but on our trade as compared with German trade. There M*as only one system of protecting trade, and that was by convoy, and we had to see that we possessed a sufficient number of ships for '« the purpose. We could not do that without paving for it, and it would help the Mother Country if the Dominions shouted aloud their intention that the British navy should not go down. As to militarism, he said the British navy was a defensive force, which never had been used aggressively. What wai . needed was co-operation between the Dominions and the Mother Country, Tlicy should work for the good of the great inheritance which had been handed down by our forefathers. Finally, he thanked New Zealand for its gift years ago. The inscription oi | tho wheel of the battleship (now in a ' museum); "Ake; ake, kia kahs,!" was, he understood, to be again inscribed, and his could assure them it would be a ' signal call to all on board to do all that could be done for the glory of the Empire.
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Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1919, Page 4
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663A STRONG RIGHT ARM Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1919, Page 4
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