MEETING OF ROYALTY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9165, 13 August 1908, Page 5

MEETING OF ROYALTY.

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. KING AND KAISER AT KRONBERG. GERMAN PRESS COMMENT. Received August 12, 8.55 a.m. BERLIN, August 11. King Edward and the Kaiser met to-day at Kronberg. Though the German newspapers are on the whole friendly, some of them declare that Britain greatly errs if she expects the conference will lead Germany to restrict her navy.

According to the Navy Bill, adopted by the Reichstag a few mentis ago, Germany is to annually lay down four armoured ships (three Dreadnoughts and one huge armoured cruiser or Invincible), in addition to two small cruisers, 12 destroyers and submarines. The estimates for 1908 involve an outlay of £17,000,000 and the annual outlay will in future years gradually rise to £19,500,000. The following table shows the advance in the German estimates in the last ten years:—

As the population of Germany is 61,000,000, the cost of the German navy per head in 1908 will be 5s 7d. The cost of the British navy per head of the population of the United Kingdom in the present year is a trifle under 14-. UNUSUALLY CORDIAL INTERVIEW. Received August 12, 11.20 p.m. BERLIN, August 12. The interview between King Edward and the Kaiser is described as unusually cordial. The German press minimise its political importance.

1898 £'5,900,000 1904 £10.500,000 1899 £6,500,000 1905 £11,400,000 1900 £7,400,000 190fi £12,400,000 1901 £9,600,000 1907 £13,900,000 1902 £10,000,000 1908 £17,000,000 1903 £10,200,000