VITAL TO BRITAIN.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17857, 1 September 1923, Page 8

VITAL TO BRITAIN.

LORD JELLICOE ON SEA POWER.

: Speaking'at the anniversary meeting of the- Sailors' Society at Wellington this week, the Governor-General, Lord Jellicoe, emphasised the vital anco of sea power to -the British Em-

pire. * , , "I was reading Yesterday the report 'of "the.:annual meeting of the British and Foregin Sailors' . Society, m London, held early in .the year, could not help realising how very mud tha . welfare , cf' thev seamen is in,tl - minds of the people, and it is quit right that that should be t>o. . Men tion was made in the speeches delivery at, that meeting of what the sea means to the British-Empire .• Without, the sailors' work, the Bnt.sh Enipire just as well 'haul down its flag, b cause' nothing can be done to, keep the British Empire going, to enable this Dominion to send its produce Home to ensure the people of the British Isles beinof supplied'with foodstuffs, without the sailor. The sailor is really the most important human beipg m tne whole, of the British JJmpire, because the British Empire depends so mucli upon' the. sailor. . (Applause.) It .is quite true, of course, that without . the producer.'the man who grows the iooastuff, the Sailor himself could not iive, because' he; would ;not have carry;' but, "without the eailor, the producer -could not live. Therefore, the British Empire really depends upon the work of its seamenand it is quite right that everybody in the Empire should do all they can to make the seaman's life a happy one. , . "Times ■< have.: changed very- much indeed in the last fifty years, in the life of the seamen," added his Excellency. "In those davs, fifty years ago, he had a very hard life. Nowadays his life is very much more comfortable, and.i iiiuch easier cue;, and it is-quite right that. it should be-so. :Of course, there are two .sides to the question. As the sailor's, life becomes an easier onej' the. sailor , should, in his turji, .realise." the 'responsibilities which, rest upon him, ; and he, should consider the .welfare e>f the community in his own - daily work ' .'.'l would like again."' remarked' his Excellency, "to stress the fact ho* much the sailor has. to thank the people who work in this. home for iim: and, 'in return, to remind the people who work in this home what they owe to the sailor; and remind not only the people who work here, but .the-peoplr of the wJiolo of the ..British Empire, what the sea. meijins to them not only in its use, but in the protection of its' communications by the Navy. With-, out that protection the sea' itself is of no use to the Empire. , and if . it. is ot; nj use to the Empire, if the sea cannot be used in safety by die Empire the Empire goes under." (Applause.)