ROYAL NAVY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20037, 19 September 1930, Page 15

ROYAL NAVY.

NEW ZEALAND DIVISION. y . *BOM OCR OWN COHBEBPOKDBXI.) LONDON, August 21. The announcement of the recoinniissioning of the cruiser Diomede leads the paper "Truth" to make some reflections on the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. question of the future of this little squadron," says the writer, "will he discussed at the Imperial Conference. The general view in New Zealand seems to be thct the money expended upon the maintenance of these ships of the Royal Navy would be more usefully spent in the development of a

local air force. Now that the Admiralty is only to have fifty cruisers to its name, I am not. sure that it would wholly regret the disappearance of the New Zealand Division, although it is nice to have the upkeep of two ships borne by a Dominion. "I am not suggesting that the New Zealand Division is not 'worth while.' It does much useful police work among the South Sea Islands, which frequently have little affairs of their own. But with the coming reduction in our cruiser strength the Admiralty may be forced into rearranging the existing dispositions of our overseas squadrons. We cannot continue to 'keep up appearances ' on dwindling resources. 4 The China and East Indies Squadrons are the last that are likely to be reduced. The America Squadron merely maintains our prestige, and having surrendered the trident, we must be prepared to sacrifice prestige as an inevitable eon-

dition of the process. The Africa Squadron, having shrank to two ships, c«uld not be further touched .without disappearing altogether. S • Scattered Squadrons. "The fact is the word 'squadron* has become rather a misnomer in our pres-ent-day methods of employing our ships on foreign service. For the purposes of command there must-always be some fcrm of grouping, but- in practice an admiral overseas very rarely indeed sees his ships in company. They scatter over the whole of their cruising zone, and probably it is true to say that at no average given time could any of the forces in the outer seas concentrate under a week. Collective training seems to be a thing of the past in our foreign service squadrons—excepting, of course, the Mediterranean ,—and what was formerly regarded as ; sheer tactical heresy appears to make

no appreciable difference to The high mobility of the'moiera ; :-w»*«,<gi ship has been the chief growth of independent cruising.; P£%' think that any changes* in-* our distribution will be along the HnesVo!-;4 still further developing. cruising, on the principle of our sea strength about the oceanl stead of bunching it in spots. : - only by such a plan can we eonti?PipM to get full value out of <me 1 Fleet." -Z'.S -7«l£-£%£, , France produced more. t)i^\^sw^|p i 000,000 gallons'of wina/,|a«t' jresar^japj^ now has a surplus of Soo,ooe^oo^%#sl#^ above the requirement* of the awk^S Have you anything towish to buy P, If so, ment in toe classified ~BeeracJ»; PreSß jnU be all you 'ls, three liißertioi»>«s.6tt:, J ;'^ l |^^^