Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1927. NAVAL POLICY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVII, Issue 10903, 28 April 1927, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1927. NAVAL POLICY.

The Prime Minister, is making his announcement that it had been decided, subject to Parliamentary sanction, to make a direct contribution of £1,000,000 towards the cost of the Singapore Base, and to make other contributions towards naval defence, has no doubt fortified himself in advance against the opposition which is bound tb arise as the result of that determination. For, besides the Singapore contribution, which is to be spread over a number of years, N the plan of maintaining a third "D" class cruiser is to be abandoned, but when the two "D" class cruisers now in commission are withdrawn, two heavier "B" class cruisers will take their place, and the Few Zealand naval base will have to be increased to accommodate them. So that, besides finding the £1,000,000 for Singapore and the charges on that sum, tie

Dominion will have to pay an additional £140,000 for the equipment and maintenance of these cruisers! The original arrangement was that our Parliament' agreed to pay £IOO,OOO towards the cost of and Mr Massey, who was Premier at that time, indicated that there would be further contributions later on. In the meantime the Commonwealth Government decided io initiate a policy of its own, and placed orders! for two cruisers and for two large submarines! with a cruising range of 3000 miles. In addition it decided to establish large oil tanks 1 at Port Darwin, and a seaplane base in Sydney. When the Special Service Squadron came to New Zealand, Mr Massey said if the Singapore Base project were not persevered! with, New Zealand would be prepared to maintain a second cruiser. Since that promise was made a second cruiser has been installed, and we have also acquired a naval tug, an oil-tanker, and a minesweeper. This, of course, has entailed considerable addedl expenditure. What the total 1 will amount to has not been recorded, but the total added together will entail a considerable burden on the national revenue. The questions which will arise are: Is it necessary ? and, Can we afford it ? The last Year Book figures show that New Zealand's expenditure on naval defence is about £500,000, or about 7s 6d a head. This is much greater than that of Canada and South 'Africa, but much less than that of Australia, and lesw than one-third of that borne by the British tax-payer. There are those who will say that in view of the fact that the tendency of the nations is toward disarmament, New Zealand and Australia are not acting in accordance with the spirit of the times in the measures they are taking for naval defence; but it must be remembered that this country is prortically defenceless at present, and the pacification of the world is at present largely a pious wish and by no means an accomplishment. During his visit to the Imperial Conference, Mr Coates

had access to inside information which is not, and is not likely to be, available to the man in the street, and if he has come away from that tribunal so impressed with the necessity of the case that he ial prepared to take his political life in his hands and inaugurate a bold policy for submission to Parliament, we may be sure that he has been soundly convinced of its necessity. If the urgency exists for strengthening our sea defences, this much is certain, that we can no longer remain dependent upon the Old Country for doing our police work. We must Shoulder our share of the burden to every reasonable extent.