UNITED STATES NAVY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9033, 26 February 1908, Page 5

UNITED STATES NAVY.

THE PACIFIC CRUISE.

MR DEAKIN'S INVITATION

Received February 25, 9.45 a.m

MELBOURNE, February 25

Mr Deakin, Federal Premier, has not yet received a reply to the invitation to the American fleet, under the command of Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans, to visit Australia.

Received February 26, 1.6 a.m, LONDON, February 25.

The "Standard's" New York correspondent states that America is disinclined to accept Mr Deakin's invitation, fearing to give offence by declining the invitations that may be offered. The fleet does not go to Japan.

BATTLESHIP PROGRAMME

REDUCED

INCREASE OF SUBMARINES

Received February 25, 8.43 a.m, NEW YORK, February 24,

The United States House of Representatives Naval Committee reduced the battleship programme from four to two, and possibly one, and recommend the construction of eight submarines of the Holland type instead of four.

(The fleet consists of 16 battleships, and represents a money value of £25,000,000. Rear-Admiral Evans, who has charge of the fleet, has in his keeping the lives of 15,800 men, and on his flagship alone he has £600,000 in actual money for salaries. Each battleship carries 3,000 tons of ammunition, ranging from "blanks," used in firing official salutes, to two-ton combinations of guncotton and lignite. The warships are equipped with wireless telegraphy apparatus, and carry a number of official recorders of the tour,_ who send their messages to approved agencies in New York, and are debarred from contributing magazine articles on the progress of the fleet.)