THE NAVY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 252, 25 October 1933, Page 6

THE NAVY.

The deplorable and. dangerous state of the British Navy to-day, as depicted by such an authority as Earl Beatty, should exercise the serious thought of all loyal Britishers. In these uncertain times, when all the big Powers except Britain have been and are making provision to defend themselves against attack, Britain has allowed her once great Navy, which had hitherto policed the Seven Seas, suppressed slavery and protected the weak, to descend to a dangerously low leveL The fact . that the British Navy could not undertake manoeuvres recently for lack of cruisers should be a sufficient proof of weakness to alarm even the most ardent pacifist. New Zealand and other outlying dependencies! rely almost entirely on the protection of cruisers f<>f defence, and, to my mind, those who support disarmament and are therefore responsible for the lack of adequate defences within the Empire should move to a country which does not require a navy and is not worth defending. A sick and 'defenceless man is usually brought to that sad state through no deliberate action of his own. It is his misfortune. But when a great Empire like Britain i s deliberately dragged down to a state of ineffectiveness so far as protecting her possessions is concerned, then we must look for a cause, as a doctor does for a disease. Tlie cause is the pacifist and the treatment is, urgent and drastic surgery. ALEX. H. WTLKIE.