The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1910- THE NAVAL ESTIMATES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 64, 16 March 1910, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 1910THE NAVAL ESTIMATES.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the vsrono tfiat needs resi^Ui. — i. For the future in the distanoa And the good that we con do.

Writing while the general election wain full swing, Mr. Archibald Hurd, one of the most eminent naval experts of the day, made this emphatic declaration: "If the supremacy of the Navy is not to be imperilled, the new Estimates must show a further increase of £6,000,000 upon the increase which startled the House of ( Commons last spring." ■ Last year's Estimates amounted to a little over £35,000,000; and Mr. Hurd, who _ essentially a moderate and cautious man, therefore regarded £41,000,000 as an indispensable minimum for this year; indeedj, that is the basis on which he works out the scheme of naval expansion which he detailed in the January issue j of the "Fortnightly Review." But certainly Mr- Hiird did not expect.- that Government would respond so .generously to the demand for a stronger fleet as to ask for more than £50,000,000 for the | current year; and we may remark in 1 passing that Mr. McKenna's proposals at one stroke disarm those Unionist critics of Mr. Asquith who have predicted all along that the liberals would never vote enough money to secure a really efficient navy. In the "National Review" for January, Mr. H. j W. Wilson, another eminent authority on naval affairs, denounced the Liberals ibitteriy for economizing out of the country's needs, and, urged the electors •bo unseat a Government which had so far compromised the safety of the Empire 'by cutting downexipend-ture on the navy. But not even Mr. Wilson ' ventured to ask for' £50,000,000 in one year to he raised by ation alone: and the . Naval Estimates, now under discussion in Parliament, have effectually absolvedthe Liberals from the charge so" often levelled against them that they are prepared to sacrifice the vital -interests of the country to a false and ill-timed parsimony. "Gigantic efforts are required. The outlook for the future is of the darkest, for .the financial strain of these efforts will be cruelly felt, and it is not certain that our counter-armaments will not j come too late. But 'We must arm orl | perish." Thus Mr-H. W. Wilson on the naval situation three" months agd. ■ ButJ .though many liberals ihay" be inclined j to discount this ominous Warning as electioneering., tra.p_ intended solely for J Unionist consumption,- a glance' at -Mr MeKenmt— proposals indicates ..that the

. .Liberal leaders appear to ..be taking the:; situation' quite as seriously as Mr sOnj - himself, coiilddesir-i The .ruth is that' now" for- the first tiajti. the rank and';f_e': I pf'bofch -political parties are begiri—ing to appreciate the _ninence of the- peril! that may possibly be - concealed- behind 1 the sudden _n'd7mar'veiW_s growth of; Germany's, naval power;. and Mr Mc-Ke-nna's, efforts to prove that the provision "now made will ensure England's naval predominance lip to March, 1913,' show that to all''the leading statesmen of the day, irrespective of party, I a strong navy is the burning, question- of -the hour. Even now,! after all the evidence brought . out by. the recent "Naval Scare" it is by no means clear how England's naval strength compares with Germany's to-' day. It seems that. in . the opinion of Mr. Wilson; as well as Mr. Kurd, the British Home ..Fleet, is just now very distinctly' superior to the German -Hi*., 1 Sea rlcet;.for it includes 2G first-class; battleships and armoured cruisers,) against '_0 German warships. But we! must. r.emem.bnr that, as Mr. LiurdinsigU,;' "it is not the Navy as.it exists to-day j which gives'cause for anxiety, but thei Navy as it will exist "to-morrow, in con- 1 tra'st with the rapidly-increasing' forces j of rival Powers." According to Mr. VVilson—and his opinion is supportod by a,' great mass of -weighty evidenceeven' if Germany does nothing to accelerate or ~enlarge her present programme by. March, 1913, England will have only 21 Dreadnoughts and I__exibles - against Germany's 17; and it is.clear tha-t not only is there no position of. "unassailable superiority" here, but that there will ,be ■the very narrowest -gin of safety against accident and ill-luck. ' Now, Mr. McKenna lias himself publicly declared that "there will come a day when by } an almost, automatic process all ships or an .earlier type, than the Dreadnought j will be relegated to the scrap-heap, 'andl the -maintenance of our superiority will I then depend upon our superiority in i i Dreadnoughts alone." By 1913 it is cer-j tain that our pre-Dread nought warships will be oi comparatively small value; and we may have to face the possible j antagonism of two or three great hostile fleets when our most dangerous rival is practically able to cope with us singlehanded. There is. ol course, room for wide diversity of opinions as to the exact margin of nav_l strength that we ought to allow ourselves. But it is evident 'that the situation in the opinion of 1_ erals and Unionists alike nece._>tates enu-oi—. efforts on the part of the nation to ensure its safety. And the question has now to be faced, by what means the extraordinary strain th—> , tarewn upon England's financial re-1 : sources bad best toe met. One Important '■ suggestion is that in view oi the excop- ' ti-onal character of this emergency, Government should make no further attempt to- meot'bur naval require!rights- out of reverfue, but should, borrow a large —_ | to be expended on that special purpose. The "Daily Telegraph" has indicated a ■ loan of £100,000,000 as sufficient to ' enable us to meet foreign navai expansion without additional t___: L, ord , Charles Beresfdrd, who thinks 'that Mr. > i'lcKenna. proposals do not go far - enough, suggests a loan of -65,000,000 ]. spread over 20 or 30 years. Mr. H. W. -j Wilson would ■be do-teirt with a- loan of ( at least £50,000,000, to be dated < by suspending the sinking fund for ten ] years; two-t_irds to 'be spent in Dread- ' noughts, cruisers, and destroyers, and one-third to provide reserves ammunition .. and additional docks and bases on the s East Coast. The raising of these huge i loans for such purposes may seem rather • a dangerous expedient; but if the crisis is as serious as even: liberal Ministers .believe, nothing but heroic nedies are i -worth trying. There is, of course, always t the possibility erf drawing upon sources ' of rev_ that bur national financiers ' have so far left untouched. Sir Edmund * Fremantle has recently pointed out that in Pitt's day the cost of the • Navy . amo_ .to one-twentieth of the annual - income of the country, and now it is .8 only one. fifty-seventh; • while the ua- < tio__l . income assessed for taxation is * more than seven times what it was during i the Naporeonic.wars. There must be thereiore ample sources from which a -largely , enhanced Naval Vote might be drawn if they were properly utilised and ii the '• landowners and capitalists of England ' could not get off with so small a 'share j of the burden o-f taxation. But whether i from revenue or from loans, a navy must ' be • assured strong enough for national '' and Imperial needs; for without it, as , Admiral Colomb has warned U3, England' < may be speedily blotted out of the list j of great nations. | .I I ■ •■■•-■■-••■ i '