BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 16, 18 January 1913, Page 10

BRITISH PACIFIC FLEET.

NEW ZEALAND'S POLICY. STATEMENT? BY PRIME MLNOSTEB. {Ey Telegraph.—Press Association.) THAMES, this day. Speaking on the subject of naval defence here last night, the Prime Minister said that he was well satisfied wibb the progress of the defence movement as far as the land forces -were concerned. but he was not so •well satisfied with naval matters. The Balkan War had s= hrr.vn clearly tie consequences of a lack of preparedness, and in the final straggle thp nation that was best prepared would suo-eed. There was much discussion as tn the form which the establishment of i fleet in the Pacific should take, but as fir as New Zealand was concerned, it • t md straight out for a British Pacific ilnoi. It mJght -consist of ships of Can--5i.l i. of Australia, and of New Zealand, r.f ;he Britsh.'Xa.vy. or of ships of all the countries he mentioned, but however flpt-iils were an-anped. there should be no possfble question as to the supremacy of British naval forces in the PaciJic. When the first shot was fired, the fleet roust be a purely British Imperial fleet, and under Imperial co-ntro!. Its constituent parts must stand shoulder to shoulder, and when the call came, that he believed would come, he was satisfied that New Zealand would be as reatly to answer as she had ever been. The ideal of one Empire fleet oaUined m Mr M-aseevo sbaiement -was cordially approved by Vice-Admiral Tate in a convers.ition with 3- "Star , reporter this morning. Viee-Adimiral Ta.te, wb-o bus jufi completed three years' service as Admira-1-Superinteindent nf the Portsmouth dockyard, arrived, in Auckland yfeterday by the Maloja in continuance of a holiday tour -which he is making of the world. Already he has visited Canada. Japan, and Australia, and he exprrt~~rxi keen regret that "the exigencies of the itinerary he has undertaken , would necessarily make his stay in New

Zealand a short one. He left this morning for Rotorua, and, after visiting the cold lakes of Otago and other scenic report-, wii! leave for Australia by the Ulimaroa from Bluff. New Zealand, he rem. irked with enthusiasm. reminded hVm more of the Old Country than any other plnoe he hod yet visited. Reference to his favourable imprpssion of the Britain of the Sooth naturally took Admi r.i! Tate back to tie question of Empire unity. As a sailor and a Briton, he entild conceive of no other method oi nav.il administration than the one Empire, one fleeit. A prominent citizen, he remarked, hud said to hi-in last night, "We have given you a battleship, but we are getting nouhing in return for it/ Such a contention, in Admiral Tate's opi.iion could n\-t hold for one moment. There was one heel, and it was .protecting the trade of the one Empire to which we all belonged. Ships suitable for immeiliate requirements were stationed in various parr— of the Empire, and it was just as much to'the interest of New Zealand to support the naval power in the •Xorr.h Sea or the Mediterran—,n, or Where it —is required, as it was to the interest of "Bri-tain to support the nawal power in the Pacific. There iwas, he ■thought, no other porn t of view from •which to regard the question, "(-few Zealand had, he thought, shown herself to be actuated in a marked degree by the Imperial ideal.