MR BALFOUR ON IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10133, 6 December 1910, Page 3

MR BALFOUR ON IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

POSITION OF THE NAVY.

Speaking at the opening of the new premises of the Imperial Union Club at Glasgow, Mr Balfour said that wo must have adequate means of Imperial defence. What mattered if we proclaimed our devotion t:> Imperial ideals, if the very foundations on which these ideals rested were shaken until they fell under our feet? Imperial defence was the necessary defence of an Imperial policy, no matter what its character or complexion. Here wo held the. stragetical gates of defence for .the whole Empire. He would like to compare the year 15)05 with this year 1910. He ventured to say that in no five, ten or twenty years of our history had there been so great a change in our naval position, or one so ominous, as that which had taken place during the last sixty months. We are in a different world. It is not merely fnat there has been a small change in degree; there has been a change in degree so great that it amounts to a change in type, and we can no longer and ought no longer to think of ourselves as in a position of securing the maritime supremacy which we enjoyed ov.v five years ago.

THE TWO-POWER STANDARD. Mr Balfour proceeded to contend that nobody pretended that the twoPower standard had either been preserved or approximately preserved at the present time. It did not now require a combination of "the two largest naval Powers to put us in a nuperical inferiority. - ; , One welldirected shot, one torpedo that reached -its- mark, one error in tactics on the part of ah admiral in command, and out narrow margin of superiority of four ships in the year 1918 might be most seriously and materially diminished. It seemed to him that it was impossible to say that a margin so narrow was one which could not be whiped out by circumstances none of us could forsee, with consequences that might be felt by the Empire for : many generations. THE SUBMARINE IN DEFENCE. After discussing the growth and the size of capital ships, Mr Balfour said the submarine appeared to him to be the only invention which told in favour of defence:—

I have myself never been able to understand how, with a properly organized system, of submarines, a great military invasion would be possible. I would put it tiis wayWould our Admiralty say that they cotild land 70,000 men, let us say, on the coast of Spitzbergen, which, I believe, belongs to no one (laughter) —would they guarantee to land 70,000 on the coast of Spitzbergen, if they knew that within three or four hours' steam of the landing place, there was a well organized flotilla of submarines? I believe that it would bo found that the perils of such a landing would be almost overwhelminc.

We had to preserve ourselves < against historical accidents, and we must remember that our forefathers existed on a large margin. There was a lamentable pause in our shipbuilding during two fatal years of the la'st Parliament. .'After-pointing out that other, nations could now build ships as quickly as we could, Mr Balfqur concluded .by urging that we jbriust!jn'dke up'for 1 lost tiine and deal w.ijthdfinculiies due to the | fact that time had been J6sts.Vi.vv/. ;• '■•■'- i OUR TRADITIONAL POLICY. ■ This country must not only follow with fixed resolve its ancient and traditional maritime policy, but other countries must be convinced that, in spite of cur party differences, irrespective of our domestic controversies (cheers), this is a tiling on which the heart of the nation is steadily and determinedly fixed,, and that, whatever policy they pursue, whatever its results in cost either to them or to us, we will not relax the efforts which it behoves us to make; we will not throw off the responsibilities that net only weigh with us at the moment, but which affect the whole future business of the Empire; and that Britain's supremacy at sea—or let •me put it thus, that is the traditional language; let me soften it—let me say our power -to carry out -all our Imperial and national duties—that is a thing which we will not, whatever it costs us, abandon; that is a thing which we will see to; and to our last shilling, to our last man, we will see that the.obligations of Empire, the obligations' that we owe to our Colonies, the obligations we owe to ourselves and those who come after us—that these obligations are ones which nothing—no party advantage, no domestic difference, no quarrels, however deeply they may go to the root of society—will for one moment allow u: to neglect.