BRITAIN'S PERIL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3178, 1 May 1909, Page 3

BRITAIN'S PERIL.

"~" THE GERMAN FLEET. GRAVE SPEECHES IN HOUSE OF COMMONS. Statements which may be regarded as almost sensational m their character have been made in the House of Commons by the First Lord of the Admiralty, in presenting the Navy Estimates for the corning year, writes a London correspondent under date of March 19th. Mr McKenna expressed his personal regret at the increase in the votes--£2,800,000 hue regarded it aJ inevitable. He admitted that the Estimates "unfold an actual and potential programme of shipbuilding, which not only throws an ad ition charge on the Estimates for the coming financial year but necessarily entails a further increase in the year 19101911." He admitted: (1) That Germany's building programme was several months further advanced than we knew. (2) That Germany has now 14 slips capable of accommodating Dreadnoughts, whereas two years ago she had none. (3) That the capacity of Krupp's and other firns for turning out armaments had been developed to an undreamed-of extent in the last two

years. This was the outlook with which the Admiralty was faced, and Mr McKenna referred to it with extreme gravity of tone, and amid cheers from the Opposition: "This is a contingency which his Majesty's Government had to take into account. We cannot afford to run risks. If we are to he sure of retaining the superiority in this, by far the trios'-, powerful type of battleships, the Board of Admiral-. ty must be in the position, if the necessity arises to give orders for guns and gun-mountings, armour and other materials, at such a time, and to such an amount as will enable them to obtain delivery of four more large armoured ships by March, 1912. We should be prepared to meet the contingency of Germany having 17 of these ships in the spring of .1912, by our having 20. but we can only meet that contingency if the Government are empowered by Parliament to give the necessary orders in the course of the present financial year." Too much reliance could not be placed on our superiority in earlier | types of shi;)s. added the First Lord, because they would become rapidly obsolete. Mr Balfour declared that according to the information at his command, in 1910 we should only have 10 Dreadnoughts against Germany's 13, and that if Germany went on accelerating her programme at the rate of the last two years, she would have no fewer than 21 Dreadnoughts in 1912. Mr Asquith declared in his speech j that the of a mutual arrangement 'with Germany regarding the limitation of armaments had been ' raised "more than once" by the I British Government, but that Germ- | any had foramlly assured ua that her naval expenditure was governed ! solely by reference to her own needs. ! In concluding his speech, the Prime Minister said: "I have endeavoured, while trying not to excite anything in the nature of unnecessary alarm in this country, to show how serious is the development from the national point of view. We can no longertake to ourselves credit for having the advantage in the rate of speed ' at which these ships are built." I Mr J. Ward, a Labour member, 1 subsequently declared that Germany '■ was aggressive in her shipbuilding programme, and "we must go 'ahead." speech was notable, ' coming from a Labour M.P. 1 The profound impression created [ by the grave tone o. c the speeches of ' the Prime Minister, Mr Balfour, and I Mr McKenna continued unabated at I Westminster next day. The Howe 1 met in a chastened moud, and the dej bate on the Naval Estimates was carI ried on in a most serious spirit until j the closure was movid. The sitting I was distinguished by two or three | notabls facts. One was the announcement of Mr A. G. C. Harvey that in the circumstances he would not move the amendment standing in his name, which declared the increase in the Estimates to be "inexpedient." This wa3 greeted by a round of unmistakably hearty cheers from a number of Ministerialists and the whole of the Opposition. "I think," he sorrowfully admitted, "that the Government has convinced tha House and the country that an increase is necessary." Thus the revolt of the Radical Economists was brought to nothing, and died away in ineffective mufterings. The German Naval Estimates were under discussion this week in the Reichstag, says the same correspondent. von Tirpitz, Secretary of State for the Navy, defended the present policy of the navy to the satisfaction of the majority of the committee. He then went on to correct, as he said, statements made in the House of Commons. The rate of building, said the admiral, is regulated by law. Some ships may be built slower, some faster, but it is the intention of the Government to build neither slower nor faster than the law provides. When Mr McKenna said that Germany would possess 17 Dreadnoughts and Invincibles in 1912, he said what was not accuriate, and Admiral von Tirpitz cannot imagine where he got his figures. As a matter of fact, Germany will possess only 13 of these monsters in 1912, and not until the autumn of that year. He declared that no proposal for disarmament had ever been made to Germany. Speakers from the National Liberal party senffed at the fears of invasion j which they declared we're held almost ( universally in England. There are / absolutely no reasons for these t'ears. Germany's naval armaments do not threaten British . naval supremacy, I and England was only threatened I with Germany's commercial development. Much resentment is felt in Chauvinist circle's at Mr Asquith's statement, that an assurance had been received from Germany .that she would not accelerate her /building. The Neueste Nachrichten would like to know who gave this assurance, and when, if it was given, it is an act unworthy of a Great Power. Count Ernest Reventlow, the naval expert, states: —"There is nothing new in the demands of the British Government, or in the general ten dency of the British naval policy as

expounded. There is only one rule for us, namely, to build as quickly as possible, and to build ships which possess the maximum of fighting efficiency. Every new efficient German warships improves our position in dealing with England, and this remains true whether England lays down four or eight Dreadnoughts."