THE NAVY LEAGUE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3097, 21 January 1909, Page 5

THE NAVY LEAGUE.

~ <3 IMPORTANCE TO NEW ZEAWk LANDERS. Vtqft Of LIEUT - KNOX T0 VISII maJ™ TON- ,, , INTERVIEW. AN JMt "RESHNLi * Yest'riJatf afternoon Lieut, H. T. C. KnoxXl e R.N.), Organising Lecturer k ft L f%ht ?n is to deliver. lect " re . to " nl ?sV h n i.i m t* CT „ i the aims and oothe Town Half; <& w ;„~,* in jects of the U *e™> HV "lf Jl Masterton. Lie*. K J OX ' W J° ?£ been Organising I* ' cturer t0 r m *u * *.- 'ir years, and League for the p«* :fo, * ' who was for the pen* * this its honorary secretary t it Wg Dominion m order to . w ith health, but a brief inSern ie ™ r " , - .. a-■ • + to conhim was quite su tire fen 6 en orter vince a Wairarapa Age: i f that Lieut. Knox cares- mows \ .. aims and objects of the Leagues ve r for anything else, and that wheins ~ he goes the League, metaphorical speaking, goes before. Lieut, &«:<& had strict injunctions from his mediical adviser not to deliver more tk'am four addresses, but his hearers tonight will realise the futility of the \ medical man's advice, when the or- i ganiser sees an opportunity of advancing the strength of the League. New Zealand, however, it is gratifying to learn, has agreed with Lieut. Knox. His health has improved most wonderfully while travelling the country, and he will be sorry to say "Good-bye"' on the 28th inst., the date he has fixed for his departure.

THE LEAGUE IN THE DOMINION. Asked as to what progress the League was making in New Zealand, Lieut. Knox said:— "I have found the greatest enthusiasm all over the country. 1 have received every possible assistance in my self-appointed mission from members of the League, from the Press throughout the whole country, from the Railway Department, and from the U.S.S. Co., but valuable as the help from all these has been to me, without the driving power supplied by Mr C. W. Palmer, honorary secretary of the Wellington Branch, I am sure I could have accomplished but little. As it is, I hope that much new support has been gained for that organisation which, in the opinion of a British ex Cabinet Minister, is one of England's greatest assets. That there will be plenty of work in the future for all branches of the Navy League throughout the Empire may be gathered from the fact that the British House of Commons contains a considerable number of Members who are determined if possible to weaken the fleet by still further reducing the expenditure upon it. This will, of course, be resisted strenuously by all patriotic Britons, and, from what I have ssen and heard in this country, by none more so than by its inhabitants. I attach the greatest importance to placing the Navy League map all schools, nnd if possible in I important railway stations, a> . ./ould str.mgly recommend all your readers to possess themselves of a copy of 'The Riddle ot the Sands,' by Erskine Childers, and to study carefully the contents of that book."

LITTLE NAVY MEN. In this country politics are not i taken very seriously, and not in- I frequently one hears wonderment I expressed at members of Parliament, who hold diametrically opposite views on important questions belonging to the same party, but at Home the issues in political fights are evidently much mere clear cut—possibly on account of the realisation of their importance. "There are," said Lieut. Knox, "sevsntyfive 'Little Navy Men' in the House of Commons." "Here," said the Organiser, "is a list of them, and the League leaves no stone unturned to expose the fallacy of their views." A query as to whether any efforts were made by the League to unseat Parliamentarians, not favouring the objects of the League at elections, elicited the fact that the Organising Lecturer had often taken the platform in opposition to the candidature of a Little Navy Man, irrespective of the party to ,vhich he belonged. IN 1895.

The immense importance of the < objects of the League is daily becoming more widely recognised. The League was first formed in 1895, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Geoffrey Hornby being its first President. As already mentioned, Lieut. Knox was honorary secretary for a period of ten years, and during the past four years he has been Organising Lecturer. He has spoken on tfOO platforms within the British Isles. 'Referring to the progress being made in New Zealand, Lieut. Knox mentioned that branches had been recently formed at New Plymouth and Wanganui, the Mayor of the town in each instance being President of the Branch, and at Palmerston North, where Captain Hewett, R.N., was President, and Mr F. Goldingham Hon. Secretary. Lieut Knox said he would like to express his thanks to Messrs J. D. Cruickshank and T. Shields. Immediately upon his arrival in Masterton. he had. through the kind permission of Mr Shields, had a copy of the Navy League map displayed in the shop window in Queen street. A SUB-BRANCH OF WELLINGTON. The question of whether a branch should be formed in Masterton would come up for discussion, but the proposal had been put forward that a sub-branch of Wellington should be formed locally, and it was considered that by keeping in touch with Wellington more "life' would be kept in the movement WHY A SUPREME FLEET IS VITAL. The following are reasons, compiled by Lieut. Knox, showing why a supreme fleet is vital. It was, of course, published for Home people, but copies of a similar publication, adapted from the one under notice, and more applicable to New Zealand, will be distributed at the Town Hall to-night:— 1. Because it is your only guarantee of peace. 1 2. Because in case Britain is attacked, it is your one hope of victory.

3. Because it ensures the safety of your hearth and home. 4. Because it is intended for defence not defiance. 5. Because you and 43,000,000 other Britons live in an unvictualled ocean citadel in he North Sea. 6. Because it guarantees the safe arrival of your food supply and raw materials from over the sea. 7. Because for you a Fleet is a necessity, to foreign nations it is a luxury. 8. Because the valus of your seaborne trade is £1,400,000,000 per annum. 9. Because £200,000,000 worth of food is imported annually into the British Isles (£4OO worth per minute). 10. Because you require 300 merchant ships every week to provide you with food and raw materials in the British Isles. 11. Because you possess a mercantile marine of 12,0,0,0,000 tons, which would require protection Jin time of war. 12. Because if the supply of material and the export of manufactured products is arrested, the wage fund will disappear; so that the purchasing power of the people must prove utterly inadequate to their needs, and the available store

>f provisions, however increased, .*L 11 be entirely beyond their means. \ 3. Because the sea is your high- ■ .„ from any one part of your Era- . i > any other part. 141 v >ecause y° u nave an Empire fiyrm, '.OOO square miles to protect i k nw-* Ise tne population of the io<. Empire is <i«X. ' ', : ~ ~ 16. wltl ' out lfc y° u cou,d not transport y» ur tro °P 3 over - s u ? u to India, or wfem >er the y mi S ht be required in time &i war " . 17. Because ,- ff *fc * J± international dfepwk ,s : Jt IS . the right arm of the For*.'«" Minister. 18. Because it helps, as Captain Mahan, U.S.N., says,- to guarantee, the peace of the world.19. Because the foiandaliionV °f the j Empire are laid upon sea 1 pow.er. i 20. Because you are a> trustee for a world-wide Empire which w-'as won for you by your forefathers, and which it is, your duty to hand down unimpaired to those? w;io follow you. 21. Because defeat at sea would mean loss of your Empire and your liberties as a free people. 22. Because it means for you the fact that you are free from invasion. 23. Because your past has lain on the water, your present lies on the water, and your future must lie on the water. 24. Because "The Fleet of England is her all in all, her Fleet is in your hands, and in her Fleet her fate." THREE THINGS. There are three things specially advocated in the case of the rising generation— (1) that the Navy League Map should be placed in every school and every railway station; (2) that school children should be encouraged with prizes £0 write essays on the history of the Navy; and (3) that the children, wherever I possible, should be taken down to I the ports to see visiting warships, and to have their interest in shipping generally aroused. I INFLUENTIAL SUPPORT.

Speaking of the support accorded to the League, outside of the British hies, Lieut. Knox mentioned that in New Zealand it enjoyed the support of Lord Plunket, Sir Joseph Ward, Sir Win. Russell, Mayors, and many masters of secondary and public schools. Supporters in other parts of the Empire were the Viceroy of India, the Governor-General of Canada, and the Governors of all other British possessions. THE TWO-POWER STANDARD. "The policy of the British Government should be to maintain the Navy at what is known as the two-power standard," continued Lie|Ut. Knox. "Germany is, of course, one of those powers. I should like to mention that the Australasian Squadron is adequate defence for Australasia, for the best way to protect you is to concentrate the Navy where it may be needed, and that is opposite the fleet it might have to fight—--13,000 miles away. In reply to a query as to what he thought of the German Navy, Lieut. Knox said "Germany's warships were very fine of their kind, but it is our policy to go one better every time Germany moves forward." A question as to whether Germany had bellicose intentions in regard to Great Britain, drew the answer "I am convinced that the German Fleet is not being built solely to protect the German seaborne trade, and for the defence of the German coast line." Lieut. Knox, also, pointed out that Great Britain had, generaly sneaking, everything that Germany wanted—that, in fact, it was everywhere admitted that England stood right in the road of Germany's ambitions.

THE DANGER OF UNDERRATING. "It is a historical fact,"remarked the Lecturer, "that England has always under-rated her enemy ou land. She has never once been prepared—she has always despised her enemy. If in Naval matters she should make a similar error, she will only do so onc.\ for she will never be allowed to repeat the error. Germany only strikes when she is readv. Take the wars of 1864, 1866 and 1870. The cost to France of her unoreparedness in 1870 was £675,000*000 (£l9, per head of the population), and the loss of two large and fertile provinces, Alsace and Lorraine." WHAT THE NAVY MEANS TO US. , "New Zealand is a beautiful and prosperous country," said Lieut. Knox. "It is a country worth holding, but once disaster befell the British Navy that, would be the end of New Zealand—figuratively speaking as your export trade, of some £20,000,000, which has to be carried across the water, would be at an end."