ENGLANDS' "ALL IN ALL."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9572, 19 August 1909, Page 4

ENGLANDS' "ALL IN ALL."

The problem of Imperial defence is ' simplified by the remarkable concurrence of British opinion regarding j the wisdom of the Defence Com- J mittee's conclusions on the subject of 1 England's vulnerability. Before ' arriving at its judgment that, with the fleet still supreme on the sea, i 70,000 soldiers can adequately defend i the United Kingdom against any ; possible invader whila, werj tho naval power shattered, milliih.s of men could not perform a line service, the Committee woulo certainly fortify itself with all the expert opinion available, and the fact that the question was deliberated upon for a whole year is evidence of the nature consideration given to the material thus collected. Mr Balfour agrees with Mr Asquith that the Committee's findings are correc 1 :, and the like opinions of other weighty political partisans help to cement that agreement. The leeson that "England's Navy i 3 her all in all," which the Committee has thus taught, is fortunately one that involves no departure from the trend of Imperial thinking indulged in since te world-shaking disclosures of March last. Just as the Navy is the key of England's ereatness, so is England the keystone of the Imperial greatness of which we are proud. With the Navy smashed or rendered impotent; England could speedily be starved into submission, and the Empire would fall asunder like a house of cards. That is the sum and substance of the Dafence Committee's conclusions. In the consequential task of maintaining the supremacy of the Navy at 9uch a point that Britain cannot lose command of the sea, Greater Britain has, therefore, an interest no less vital than that of the Motherland herself. And the spots at which the Navy must demonstrate its superiority are those at which it is likely to be challenged. Imperial defence which comprehends Australian de- [ fence, thus centres itself in Old World waters.