VALUE OF THE NAVY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21315, 7 November 1934, Page 19

VALUE OF THE NAVY

CRUISERS NEEDED ADDRESS TO NAVY LEAGUE "The Need for a Navy To-day" was the subject of an address given at a meeting of the Navy League last evening by Lieutenant-Commander K. C. b. I*l tirdirijS» "There is a noisy element at Canterbury Cbllege which would seem to advocate the abolition of the navy," said Mr Harding. "It is a piece of tragic irony that when culture reaches a high level the will to fight, which has carried culture to that point, is often lost. I believe in peace, but I believe that the navy is the strongest force making for peace and preventing roguery, we gentle New Zealanders know very little of what is going on. When I referred to 'Dagoes' at Canterbury College there were loud protests; but there are some poople I should prefer to call 'Dagoes'—those who do not hesitate to give a stab in the back." The United Kingdom was dependent on overseas trade, said Mr Harding', and the trade of New Zealand was bound up with that of the United Kingdom. It should be the care of a statesman to preserve trade routes from interruption. There was always '.he possibility of war: trade route;.wore not elastic, and England had been shown the grave menace of submarines and raiders such as the Emden and Von Spee's squadron. After indicating the various trade routes and the amount of trade they carried, Mr Harding dealt with the various methods of providing protection. Destruction or containing of the enemy was the first. The second was the patrolling of trade routes, a method which, in view of the length and number of the routes, would require too many ships. Convoying was a more practicable method, but the number of cruisers at present available was contemptibly small. Where it had been asked that 70 should be built, the number had been cut down to 50. Instead convoy sloops were offered, a class of ship which was quite unsuitable—indeed, they were veritable death-traps. The fourth method, termed "routeing, was to keep shipping away from normal routes, protecting it at the main focal points. It would not be possible to keep a fleet at each point, as required by this scheme, but the Indian Ocean could be enclosed. In conclusion. Mr Harding referred lo the possibility of a danger point arising in the East. Other nations had noT progressed beyond the aim of ?rabbing; and there was the danger that the next generation would forget what the present one had learned during the war, which had not ended but had, only let up in 1918. There might seem to be a danger of beginning an armament race, but there was a greater danger in being exposed to rival powers.