NAVAL ESTIMATES

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10588, 20 March 1912, Page 5

NAVAL ESTIMATES

BRITAIN AMD GERMANY

A MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

(Received Last Night, 9.10 o'clock ) L - DON, Mardh 19.In the House of Commons, I he Hon. Winston Churchill, in introducing the Naval Estimates, said i hat infertile Budget of 1909 had made it possible to increase the ar.risiiiients without additional taxation or Tho time had come when Britain at|d Germany could understand, will; >nt ill-temper, the conditions under which competition, might be carried out {luring tho next few years. Germany at present did not feel tho we ght of maintaining, year after year, i gigantic navy whose cost increased relentlessly.

COSTLY RIVALRIES

NECESSITY FOR NAVAL St' PREMAOY. A STRANGE SPECTACLE (Received Last Night, 11 o'clo.;<i, ) LONDON, March if». Mr Winston Churchill said that , Germany would bo no gainer by tho increase, nor loser on the basis v\ liu-i-i no laid down, which afforded a ptan . whereby, without diplomatic lions, bargainings, or restriction of freedom, keen and costly rivalry could uo abated. We stood on the defensive, and a surprise attack by Germany or .anyone else would be inconceivable apart from the moral aspect. Engla n 1 " had no means of following up an attack, even if successful A naval defeat would mean more to us than . o Germany or France, because we sa a fed from the sea, and hence tho necessity for naval supremacy, which is not a matter of trade and commerce, but of our very freedom. Wo must so conduct, our affairs that no single nav will have a reasonable prospect of success against us. Oil fuel was a per-' ' plexing problem, and while it was in«ontestably superior; to coal, they hao. to solve the question o£' whether they . would be able in time of peace to ofi . ' tain supplies at a reasonable price, and ' Xitfrbttb. restrictions, in time of war. , ■ and also whether they should t.o able to. store a sufficient reserve as a safeguard from aeroplanes or sabotage. Mr Churchill announced that the recasting and organisation of the Home defence had been divided into threo fleets, comprising eight battle squadrons.of eight ships each, with-atterid-ant-auxiliaries, and they would thus he aible to assemble sixty five battleships as compared with thirty-eight !>y the next strongest power.' A t;v- - pedo boat flotilla, commanded by a special admiral, would protect the coasts against minor raids while tb.-* battle fleet was defeating the enemy. He announced his intention of promoting a hundred younger warrant officers to a rank equivalent to sub lieutenants, and to award commissions to senior midshipmen. He proposed to create a new force called tihe Tn,- J mediate Reserve, comprising the nv j tired men, who had served from five to ten years. The force would bo limited to 5000 men, who would be ablo to man. at short notice the ships of the seventh \ battle squadron and cruiser squadrons, j It *was also intended to revert to con- j tiniious commission, ships manned by i the nucleus of crews on Home stations. Mr Churchill concluded by dilating on the strange spectacle of the I world devoting wealth, manhood, and' science to producing gigantic .military i "machinery, which became obsolescent j :'s soon jifi. created, and which was i draining the coffers and stinting the -needs ot the people. The most hopeful interpretation of the phenomenon wasi that rivalries .would become sub-1 stitutes" of the actual war of the earliest ages. Mr Churchill said that he was prepared to recommend the two to one standard against Germany. The time might come when it would be / necessary, but that time was not now. ■ The changes in the European situa- '] tion had rendered theJbwo power stan- " dard inapplicable and inadequate. The Admiralty's . present standard,, as compared with Germany was a 60 per] cent. superiority in battleships, i Dreadnoughts and cruisers,' and that -. would suffice for five years. If Germany did not alter her plans as tho pre-Dreadnought declined in fighting value, the ratio would rise above sixty per cent. It appeared necessary to construct four .ships, and three Dreadnoughts .alternately, during the next .sexennium, to maintain the standard, and the estimates were framed accordingly, "If Germany increased her /construction we must meet at upon a higher ratio of superiority, by building four additional snips, spread over a sexennium." He wished to make it clear that any retardation or reduction in German construction, would meet with England"® prompt response, contingent upon the absence of dangers elsewhere. Supposing that both nations took a year's holiday, three ships , would not be built, and Germany would have nearly £7,000,000, and automatically wipe out five potential British suepr-Dreadnoughts.