THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1909. TO-NIGHT'S LECTURE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3097, 21 January 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 1909. TO-NIGHT'S LECTURE.

At the Masterton Town Hall tonight, Lieut. H. T. C. Knox, Organising Lecturer for the Navy League, will deliver an address upon the objects of the League. His Worship the Mayor will preside, and we sincerely hope that the audience will not only bo representative of Masterton, but that it will bo large as well, thereby indicating that general interest is being aroused in. the splendid national work that is being so capably carried out by Lieut. Knox. The safety and future destiny of the British Empire depends entirely upon the Navy. This is an indisputable tact, and hence the tremendous importance of ensuring beyond doubt that the Navy is everything that loyal Britons wish and believe it to be. If Great Britain makes a mistake in the maintenance and development of her Navy, she will, as Lieut. Knox remarked in the course of an interiew yesterday, never repeat the error, for the good reason that she will never have an

opportunity of doing so. Australasia, indeed all the outlying parts of the Empire, would be in an absolutely defenceless position were the protecting arm of Great Britain withdrawn. It must, therefore, be obvious to every intelligent person that we, in New Zealand, are just as directly interested in the Navy as though we lived in the Old Country. It is essential that the two-power standard should be maintained, for upon such a degree of efficiency and strength of the British Navy the safety of the whole Empire depends. Realisation of this fact should bring home to everyone the patriotic duty of supporting the League, and helping the movement forward. In reference to the lecture to-night, we may say that it will be of an extremely interesting character. Lieut. Knox is a most capable lecturer, and invariably captures the interest of the audience from his first word to his last. The lecture will be illustrated, and we may say, for the benefit of those who may not, perhaps, fully appreciate its Imperial character and educational value, that there will not be a dull moment in the course of the address.