NATAL ARMAMENTS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17629, 5 December 1922, Page 7

NATAL ARMAMENTS.

UNITED STATES BUILDING

POLICY. IMPORTANT STATEMENT BT » MINISTER. (By CaVie—Prase Association—Copyright.) (Australian and N.Z. Cab's Association.) (Received December 4tl>, 8.20 p.m.) WASHINGTON, December 3.

Mr E. Denby, Secretary of the Navy, reporting on the condition of the Navy to President Harding, declares the satisfaction of the Navy Department with the capital ship ratio fixed by the Washington Conference. He says: "In the past, owing to the lack of a definite naval policy and the more pressing need for building up our naval strength in capital ships, the Navy Department has beon responsible for maintaining a wellrounded Navy. I feel it my duty to report that in certain types, such as fast cruisers, aircraft carriers, seagoing submarines, and aircraft, the Navy is deficient. It is not my intention this year, in view of the financial condition of the country, to make recommendations for an increase in these branches of the Navy, but I recommend that, as soon as conditions warrant, Congress should make such an increase as will tend to balance our fleet and make and keep it equal with any in the world. The fundamental naval policy of the United States should be the foregoing, and should hold until such time as ot'-.or Powers, by their' departure from the idea of suspended competition in naval armaments, indicate other procedure. The United States Navy, until such time, may be governed in its strength by the spirit of the capital ship ratios."

Mr Denby pointed out that the Navy manoeuvres and operations last year were seriously hampered by insufficient appropriations for fuel, and made it extremely embarrassing for the Com-manders-in-Chief of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. He asks Congress to make appropriations for so many barrels of oil and tons of coal, irrespective of the price.

SCRAPPING OF CAPITAL SHIPS.

WHAT BRITAIN IS DOING. WASHINGTON, December 3. Explaining the reference in tho House of Commons to the scrapping of warships, the British Embassy has published a list of eight British capital ships already sold to shipbreakers. Eight others are in the first stage of scrapping. None of these iB obsolete, or would have been scrapped but for the Washington Treaty. The Embassy refutes a recent Press despatch, which made the positive statement that neither Britain, the United States, nor Japan had begun scrapping vessels not already obsolete, and were- awaiting the ratification of the Treaty by all the Powers concerned.