The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1912. THE NEW NAVAL POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 123, 23 May 1912, Page 4

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

THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1912. THE NEW NAVAL POLICY.

For the cause thai lacks assistance, For the im'ong that needs resistance, For. J7te future in the distance, And the good iliat we can do.

For some months past rumours have been circulating through the Britisii and. colonial Press that an important change in Imperial Jvaval policy was liidfer contemplation. The reason for this new development was the probability that the German Reichstag would accept the new Navy Bill, whicii makes large additions to the JJorth Sea fleet, and expands the ! building programme for many years' to come. These gloomy anticipations have been realised:, and it is now for England and her dependencies to make some counter-move in reply. So far as England is concerned, Mr. Winston Churchill has promptly and clearly announced' that | her naval estimates must be increased at once, so as to tna.int.ain at least the j present margin of superiority against : all possible rivals. Tie part that the oversea Dominions are called upon i to play in the Empire's new scheme of naval defence is indicated 'by the momentous dispatch forwarded to our Government by the Secretary of State for the Colonies a month ago. This remarkable memorandum suggests that if the European Powers announc a an incfrease in" their naval strength, our ■battleship cruiser New Zealand, instead of serving on the China station, should be appointed to the Home fleet, and should operate with the rest of the Dreadnought cruisers in and about the Isorth Sea. Our Prime Minister at once acceded to this suggestion, and informed the imperial authorities that his Government considers that the Dominion's Dreadnought should be stationed "where the Home Government considers 'her service of most value." It is the assertion of this extremely important principle of naval and Imperial strategy that gives this occasion the interest which, is evidently attached to it iby all the responsible organs of public opinion at Home.

Naturally enough, the leading London papers are profuse in their grateful appreciation of New Zealand ? s loyalty and generosity. The original gift of tiiis •warship was the butcome of the naval crisis of -which arose out of the knowledge that tie German Ifavy was growing faster than our own; the offer to leave the disposition of this t)rea.lnonght entirely to the judgment of the Admiralty is a direct reply to the challenge that Gerniany has forced upon England ana our Empire in her new -Navy Bill. For secpncl time, therefore, Kew Zealand has made it clear to England and tp the wpria that she regards Britain' 3 peril as her oivn, and that she recognises that any danger vhieh threatens the Empire can be met most effectually by concentrating the Britisii fleets -wherever the enemy happens to

be in force. In other words, New Zealand has again declared emphatically ia favour of the pplicy of centralised Imperial action rather than of minor defensive schemes based upoii purely local needs and considerations. The offer of the Dreadnonght, as it involved a rejection of the specious policy of local

navy building, -was practically a vote in .favour of the system of naval defence which has held the Empire together so long. This last step of formally requesting the Imperial Government to dispose of our warships as it pleases is a logieil corollary to -what we have done already; and it confirms our refusal to adopt any such system of naval defence as Australia is now attempting to put in practice. The great central fact, which Australia's policy seems to ignore, is that "the battle of the .British Empire will be fought, not in distant waters, but contiguous to the naval armaments of the great European Powers." Where the worst danger threatens the Empire, thera our defence must be strongest; and.the knowledge that the fleets of all our Continental rivals, or enemies, must operate in the North Sea or the Mediterranean, appears to those naval experts to -whosa views New Zealand has civen her adjhererice, sufficient reason for dispensing with local navies and expending all tlie energy and money available in increasing and strengthening the fleets in Home waters. In. an interesting article contributed to the last number of the "Fortnightly Review," the well-known naval authority, Mr, Archibald Huxd, emphasises all these facts, and draws particular attention to the importance of the step which New Zealand has since decided to take. "The original intention," he reminds us, "was that the splendid battle-cruiser New Zealand should form a part of the squadron in China waters, periodically paying visits of ceremony to New Zealand pores. It is now, apparently, the intention that this ship, when completed, shall make a world tour, in the course of which visits will be paid to the principal Xew Zealand ports, in order that the inhabitnas 6f this Dominion —who have set up a, , standard of patriotism reached by no other daughter land—-may have an opportunity of seeing the first man-of-war designed at their behest and built with their money. When these visits of ceremony are over, this Dreadnought will return to Europe, there to form an important link in the chain of defence which protects not less the people of the Antipodes than the inhabitants of the United Kingdom. -, Of all this, we need hardly say, Mr. Hurd thoroughly approves. "In the history of the world," he tells us, "there is no more splendid illustration of devotion to a sound political and strategical ideal than the people of New Zealand by their words and acts have furnished." Such enthusiastic approval' from su,eh a source may help to Sir Joseph Ward and his latn colleagues for the criticism to which the Dreadnought gift was originally exposed by. a section of the Opposition Press. But Mr. Hurd goes further than this, for he hopes to see all the great self-governing dependencies of England follow New Zealand's example. We do not altogether sympathise with the tone of Mr. Hurd's rather imperative demand for direct contributions from the colonies to the support of the British Navy. It is impossible to get any just idea of Canada's or Australia's financial responsibility to England in this respect by taking a simple average per head) of population. Though England certainly Ibears by far the heavier share of the Empire's pecuniary burdens in TegaTd to Imperial , defence, it is still true that if England had no oversea dependencies she would for her own safety's sake be compelled to keep up her naval strength to the standard set by foreign rivalry. But Mr. Hurd's enthusiasm and the grateful appreciation of the Imperial authorities should encourage this country to persevere with the policy it has initiated, and to hope that Canada, South Africa, and Australia will realise in time the comparative uselessness of small local navies to protect the oversea Dominions against foreign sea power if once England's naval strength is crippled or destroyed.