THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1902. OUR SEA DEFENCE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 160, 1 February 1902, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1902. OUR SEA DEFENCE.

The defence system of New Zea-' land is said to have many defects, but with our land force of 18,000 volunteers, or including members of rifle clubs, 25,000 trained men, no groat fault can be found. When, however, we look at what has always been the first line of defence of British countries, our warships, we cannot be at all sure that wo are adequately protected from an enemy. For years it has been recognised that the enrolment and drilling of local volunteers is a wise precaution, but the idea of having a New Zealand fleet has not been entertained seriously by any of our public men. We have, it is true, made an annual contribution to the Imperial Government in return for the stationing in New Zealand waters of several second class cruisers, but the time has come for the Government of the colony tm discard thin mistaken policy a new one. If it were suggested that we should disband all our volunteers and pay an annual contribution to the War Office to have a few battalions of “ regulars " dumped down in our midst, there would be a great outcry from Auckland to the Bluff. And. yet, this policy is allowed to obtain in the naval defence question, which ia certainly not inferior in importance to that of defence on land.

The Briton, by gift of blood and by force of circumstances, is aa much at home on the ocean as a seagull. He has won his greatest victories bn the sea, has shown to advantage wherever the ocean rolled. “ Hia very empire is cemented with sea salt,” and yet, as essentially British as we are, we are warned otf the sea, and prevented from taking a share in our own naval defence. A hundred reasons could be brought forward why New Zealand should have a fleet of her own. Our sea-borne trade is now worth upwards of £20,000,000 per year, and to protect this vast wealth we have to depend upon the service* of' Imperial-owned vessels, which are liable to be called at any time to join the British fleet. Then the whole colony is looking forward to our already great trade, becoming immeasurably greater in the course of time. An island nation without a warship of its own is an anomaly that wonld cot exist long in time of war. Again the tendency of our country is to crowd into the big cities, and this is a tendency which should be discouraged as much by providing an outlet on the sea gs by cutting up land in the back blocks.

Another and a "very powerful argument in favour of a New Zealand fleet is the class of vessel that is at present our sole sea defence, besides the colony’s own few torpedoes. British cruisers are all built on the principle of being sea keeping vessels rather than ships of great hitting power. Weight of armour, number of guns, etc., are merely minor factors to coal-carrying capacity and the like, and it is feared among many naval men that this is carried to excess. Policing, as it has to do, every sea on earth, the British fleet must to a large extent be bnilt on these lines, but that does not say that this class of vessel is the most suitable for all parts of the world. The problem of shore defence is quite a different thing from that of sea command, and different classes of vessels are most suitable for the different purposes. For the immediate defence of our coasts, since the base of supplies in all losses -would he near, do.' not A J'_ "/I'V.y * ■ ,y v ft c * <, .v i j

want solely, sea-keeping vessels with guns ami armour lightened to secure coal capacity. We want at least some ships of another type; ships with moderate coal capacity, but swift, heavilyarmed, carrying the most powerful guns that can be built; ships with which no ordinary deep - sea cruiser could for a moment contend. This portion of our squadron might well consist of New Zealand ships manned by New Zealanders for the defence solely of New Zealand. When the British Admiralty give us, for purely coastal defence, ships built for long sea travel and lightened in armour and guns in 1 consequence, they are giving us the wrong typo of ship. It is like giving a razor to a man who asks for a crowbar.

When that first great offshoot from the British nation, the United States of America, came to build a fleet of their own, they did so on a plan of their own. They put the gun-fire of a line-of-battle ship into the dimensions of a frigate; in other words they built ships adapted for coast defence rather than the deep sea sailing. The American man-of-war to-day carries more guns, and heavier guns for its tonnage than that of any other Power, and the policy of the second great offshoot, Australia, has, so far as it has developed, proceeded on American rather than British lines. The South Australian gunboat “ Protector ” is such aa we should desire for New Zealand. Its tonnage is 900 tons, and yet it carries five G-inch guns and one 8-inch, with a total weight of projectiles of 580 lbs. The typical Australasian cruiser is of about 2,500 to 3,000 tons and carries eight 4*7-inch gnus, with a weight of projectiles of 3701b5. In a word these ships are three times the tonnage of the Protector and have a little more than half its weight of gun fire. Anyone will at a glance see that the Australian type of ship is suited to New Zealand needs, and while the British Admiralty cannot be expected to alter their type of ship to suit our needs, they might well build for us some heavily armed ships of moderate coal capacity, and let them be manned for the defence of New Zealand shores by New'Zealand seamen. No hostile cruiser built for long sea voyages could face them. Under present conditions, if war broke out, the Imperial ships on the Australasian station might be called away at any moment to join in some great combination. But if there were a New Zealand section to the fleet of the type described, our first line of defence would still hold good.

It can be readily understood that British naval officers, saturated with the idea of the superiority of the British type of ships, would look askance at a proposal to build ships of a type suited for coast defences, but British military officers at one time thought very little of Colonial troops, and we cannot help thinking that in this matter the naval officer would bo as far wrong aa his military brethren were. New Zealand genius should be allowed to find its own unchecked expression in naval, as in land defence. Let everything be encouraged that draws the New Zealander to tha sea, the natural field of his race, the field which the fact of the country being an island makes it inevitable that he must occupy.