EMPIRE DEFENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3138, 15 March 1909, Page 5

EMPIRE DEFENCE.

NAVAL ESTIMATES. THE NEW PROGRAMME. PREPARATIONS FOR RAPID CONSTRUCTION. Received March 14, 4.30 p.m. LONDON, March 13. The naval," estimates presented to the House of Commons total £35,142,700. New construction will absorb £8,885,194, whereof £6,599,424 expended on ships already under construction, and £2,285,770 will go towards the new programme, which

comprises— Four Dreadnoughts Six protected cruisers Twenty destroyers And some submarines. The personnel of the navy will not be increased. The Government will, if necessary, ask authority to make preparations for the rapidconstruction of four more large armoured ships, to be laid down on April Ist, 1910, and completed in March. 1912. '"" A memoi*andum on the Estimates by Mr R. McKenna, of the Admiralty, shows that £60,000 has been allotted for an airship and half a million for 4 new submarines. During the current year tha following will be completed:— Three battleships Four Inviucibles Five^destroyers Seventeen first-class torpedoers Seven submarines. The following will be under construction on April Ist: Six battleships One armoured cruiser Two unarmoured cruisers i Five protected cruisers Twenty-five destroyers Six torpedoers Nineteen submarines ™ The "Daily News" expresses disappointment with the Estimates, on the ground that the programme is colossal. On the other hand the Unionist Press are disappointed on the ground that the programme is inadequate unless the additional powers for the construction of four more large armoured ships mentioned are resolutely enforced.

APPEAL TO CANADA. TO ADOPT A NAVAL SCHEME. OTTAWA, March 12. Judge Barren, speaking at the Empire Club,' Toronto, urged Canada to adopt a naval scheme similar to that of Australia. Canada had been described as soending so much on a land force as not to have a cent for naval defence. This was, he said, like putting a one-armed, one-legged man in the prize-ring.

AN AUSTRALIAN NAVY. MAKING A START. ORDERS FOR DESTROYERS. Received March 14, 4.15 a.m. MELBOURNE, March 14. The Minister of Defence has announced that the Government has accepted the tenders of Messrs Denny Bros., o£ Dumbarton, and the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company, of Glasgow , for the construction of two destroy the River Class, to cost £81,500 each, including armament. He believed that in England would also be obtained material for a third destroyer, including armaments, at £71,500. The first vessel will be completed in fourteen months, and the second in"fiftee months, and the material for the third within twelve months from the date of signing of the contract. The destroyers will voyage to Australia under their own steam. The successful firms agree to employ not less than twelve or more than twenty Australians to be selected and sent to England by the Commonwealth to assist in the construction of the vessels.

In the River Class of destroyer speed is sacrificed to strength. The Cobra disaster, in which a new boat broke in two in a heavy gale, alarmed the authorities, who thereupon designed a heavier vessel for work in bad weather, with a speed of 25 1 knots. The speeds of other destroyers range from thirty to thirtyeight knots. There are eight of the River Class in the British Navy. Critics have pointed out that in smooth weather foreign destroyers would ha.ve the heels ot these boats, and attention has been drawn to the fact that the light fast Japanese destroyers (built in England) worked in all kinds of weather in the RussoJapanese war without coming to grief. It has been decided, however, that in view of the heavy ocean work that an Australian destroyer would have to do, and the wide radius of action that has to be provided for, a strong and not very fast type is the best.

CABIE NEWS.

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