THE MEDITERRANEAN PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 166, 12 July 1912, Page 4

THE MEDITERRANEAN PROBLEM.

Apparently a great deal of the eloquence expended recently over the proposed withdrawal of the British fleet from the Mediterranean has proved entirely superfluous. For Sir Edward Grey has now publicly announced that in the opinion of Government it is necessary to keep in the Mediterranean a force which would be able to cope with the fleets of any other Tower. It is true that the Foreign Minister [ also lays stress upon the necessity for keeping a substantial margin of strength in Home waters; but this end is evidently not to be attained by making heavy drafts upon the Mediterranean fleet. 'All this will be highly reassuring to the many people who believed, or, for political reasons. affected to believe, that the withdrawal of England's -warships from the Mediterranean would lie a dangerous step that might even imperil xhe Empire. .No doubt the Unionist newspapers which took up this as a party cry will now claim to nave saved England from disaster. But it must be remembered that Lord Kitchener, with whom. Mr. Asquith and Mr. Churchill conferred on this subject, was strongly opposed to the withdrawal policy, and that his view is supported by a'large number of distinguished naval and military experts at Home. However, the main fact to be considered is that the Committee of Imperial Defence has decided to maintain the fleet iv tho Mediterranean "at a strength equal to that of any other Power there." This statement has some, bearing on our relations with France, and it may be taken as a clear indication that the "entente," which has done so much to maintain the peace of Europe and to restore the prestige of both England and France, is not. as" has been rumoured, about to develop into a formal alliance. England knows that under existing conditions France would find it to her own interest to uphold the "entente" -even to the extent of assisting us to withstand any forcible encroacltment upon our Mediterranean interests. But Sir Ed-ward Grey does not think it wise to depend absolutely upon even the good intentions of our best friends. At the same time lie has offered some very reassuring remarks as to the. value of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance as a guarantee of peace and as to the friendly character of our present relations with -Germany. All this is very encouraging, so far as the immediate international outlook is concerned. ißut it certainly seems fortunate that England should have decided on a course of naval 'policy that will help the other Powers to understand that, though the days of "splendid isolation" are gone, she is prepared to defend her Imperial rights and interests to the utmost, by her own strength alone.