NEW ZEALAND'S NAVY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 69, 22 March 1928, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND'S NAVY.

lfO THIRD CRUISER.

STATEMENT BY THE PREMIER.

(By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.")

WELLINGTON, this day,

To-day the Prime Minister (Mr. J. C. Coates) issued a denial of the statement of Mr. W. C. Bridgeman, First Lord of the Admiralty, in the House of Commons that New Zealand had offered to maintain a third cruiser.

The statement of Mr. Bridgeman, said Mr. Coates, was incorrect. With the advice and assistance of Lord Jellicoe. the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy had been instituted. In the initial stages one cruiser had been provided, then the decision of the British Government to provided a naval base at Singapore had complicated matters. It had been felt that New Zealand should contribute something towards-the cost of establishing the base, and a first contribution of £100,000 had been voted by Parliament. The stoppage of work on the base which followed the change of Government in Great Britain resulted in Australia taking additional precautions for her naval defence and embarking upon a scheme spread over a number of years. Xew Zealand also was impressed with the necessity of maintaining an efficient naval unit, and the Government decided to enuip a second "D" class cruiset, which arrived in Dominion waters earlv in 1926.

At the time of the last Imperial Conference, New Zealand had been considering the maintenance of a third "D" class cruiser, but at the time a third cruiser was not available, the ships were somewhat small for the purpose for which tliev were intended, and in any event it would be necessary to withdraw them in about seven years' time. Therefore, after consultation with the Admiralty, thev had decided not to purchase a third "D" class cruiser, but to replace the two existing cruisers with ships of the "B" tvpe when it became necessary for the Dunedin and Diomede to be withdrawn.