THE IMPERIAL NAVY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8476, 1 July 1907, Page 5

THE IMPERIAL NAVY.

MR DEAKIN AND THE AUSTRALIAN POLICY. MELBOURNE, June 29. Mr Deakin was welcomed by the Australian Natives' Association. Speaking on the naval question, he remarked — "Heaven help the Empire, or any part of it, if it breaks away from the Imperial Navy." No proposal, Mr Deakin added, had ever crossed his mind, and none would ever emanate from the present Commonwealth Government, which would imply any break away from the Imperial Navy. It had been his privilege to consult with the political and other heads of that navy face to face, and he had returned, fortified by their advice and iudgment, to lay before his colleagues proposals that they had not yet been told of, . which met with the entire approba-1 tion of those professional advisers. We in Australia had grown to what we were because we had rested under the shelter of the British flag, but a high-spirited people could not be content to sit still under the shelter of any flag without helping in its own defence. We or our children might have to meet no ordinary foes, and that might mean peril to all we hold most dear. If the warning came home to any people it should come home to us; therefore it became us surely to recollect that the time was now our own, and to take advantage of the opportunity of making the necessary provision. "It is our duty," said Mr Deakin, "to supplement the strength of the Empire in these seas, as far as it is proportionately incumbent upon us, and not to be content to see work done for us which we should do. Until this duty is discharged, we are only Tenants on this continent. We could not retain it, and we could not deserve it."