Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1911. BRITAIN'S NAVY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10225, 28 April 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1911. BRITAIN'S NAVY.

The most important subject which will come up for discussion at the •Imperial Conference in London will be that of Defence. The speech made by Sir Joseph. Ward at Sydney, and supplemented on his arrival in the Old Country, is attracting a good deal of attention!. The proposal to establish an Imperial Council of Defence is by no means original. < Its advocacy, however, by responsible 1 bead of an Oversea Government brings it within the scope of discussion) by the Imperial Conference if it does not actually suggest its practicability. The-position, of the British Navy is at present occasioning a good deal of anxiety at Home. The Navy League, in a letter to the London "TMes," on Ma¥ch 15th, says: "- "The two-power standard, having now definitely and finally been aban-

doned in principle by the GovernI ment of the day, the Navy League \ has adopted a. new policy— that of [ two keels to one. Thi| policy has ! been-justified by the recent pronouncement of the. First Sea Lord. In the two years, 1911 and 1912, Germany is to lay down under the pro- '• visions of her Navy Law six large armoured ships, and the standard now adopted makes it necessary that twelve ships of similar type shall be put in hand for the British Navy j within the same period. The provis- | ion made in. 1911-12 is for five such ships, leaving seven to be provided I in 1912-13 if the standard is to be maintained. Upon this point, the

Navy League insists very strongly, because the new standard, although it is based upon the naval activities of the next strongest Power, at present Germany, is designed to recognise the larger contingencies of the future, and especially for the situation which will arise in 1915. In that year the alliance with Japan is due for termination, and the Mediterranean Powers will have added greatly to their armaments. In the view of the Navy League, the question is not National—it is Imperial. The requirements of the Empire necessitate in the near future the maintenance of a strong force in the Pacific. This is a matter in which the Dominions are as much concerned as ourselves. The coming Imperial Conference will afford the opportunity for a discussion of the shares of the naval burden to be borne respectively by the Mother Country and the daughter Dominions. An essential step as to give those Dominions a voice in the conduct of Imperial affairs, and therefore, under the advice of the Admiralty, a voice in the construction and an influence upon the distribution of the Fleet."