SUPREMACY OF THE SEAS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XL, Issue 73, 20 March 1914, Page 6

SUPREMACY OF THE SEAS.

GREAT BRITAIN'S POSITION. SHIPS READY FOll WAR, LONDON. March 18. Hon. Winston Churchill (First Lord of the Admiralty), speak ng when the House of Commons was in committee °>i the Naval Estimates, totalling £51,550,000, stated that ow.ng to tradj conditions there was a likelihood of mail" vessel's being completed in 1914 v.thout acceleration or spelling up. It' war broke cut to-morrow every ship coukl be sent to soa lully ecjii pped. In future l : eutenants w-tli eight years' service would be termed lieutenant commanders.

, Seventy nierchentmen would be armed by the end of 1914. He dec'ared with emphas.s that G.eat Britain would remain the independent guardian of her Mediterranean Interests. The Government was not without hope that Canada would meet .ts share of naval defence. While. Japan was .allied to Great Britain's possessions the naval superiority of Japan was safe from attacks by the great fleets of Europe. "In no other way in the years immediately before us," said the Minister, "can Japan adequately protect herself."

IN THE PACIFIC. LONDON, March 18. Continuing, Mr Churchill said that the growth of European interests in China and the development of European navies on a greater scale than Japan could all'ord would increase her reliance upon Great Britain. "Our obligations to Japaflt are to provide against an increase of European squadrons in the Far East," he said. Mr Churchill contended that the Government had given full effect to "the ■190;! agreement, for although not doing it in the saise unit it was keeping the battleships in home waters, where alone they would meet their equals. It had sent the Swiftsure and Triumph to the China and Indian stations, which were sufficient, and there was an improvement in the mere duplication of the Australian unit. There was no reason to suppose that Japan would need England's friendship less after the expiry of the alliance in 1921, but the bond between Japan and Groa + Britain would mean the effective protection of Australasia. The bond depended entirely upon' the maintenance of British naval supremacy. There was no means by which, in the next dozen years. Australasia could maintain itself singlehanded. If Britain's power were shattered the only course thm (pen to the white races in the nwild be to seek the protection .r the United States. From this viewpoint there wan profound wisdom in the policy hitherto adopted, and they could appreciate the fact that it provided the most effective way for common security. The Admiralty was bound to uphold the broad principles of unity of command and concentration in a decisive theatre.

Mr Churchill added, "The Admiralty regards the efforts of the Australian Commonwealth as heroic, and we will leave nothing undone to assist her."

THE AUSTRALIAN FL = f:T. LONDON, March. 18. Continuing his speech, Mr Churchill said that sound arrangements had been made for the use of the Commonwealth fleet in war time. The Government realised the importance of creating naval sentiment in the dominions, and therefore advocated tile creation of an Imperial Squadron and urged the importance of stations, docks and repair plants in Canadian and South African waters, defended by local destroyers and submarines. This help arose through local naval interest. Though the Government believed that the foundations of peace among the Great Powers were strengthened, yet tho causes which would lead to a general war could not be removed in the slightest way by an abatement of naval and military preparations, and attempts to arrest in an ineffectual manner the Admiralty's responsibilities came home with brutal reality. Unless Great Britain's strength ami solidarity were unswervingly maintained the Government was not doing its duty.

LONDON, March 18. Mr A. _H. Lee (Unionist member for the Fareham division of Hants, and a former Civil Lord of the Admiralty) said that the Government was failing in its promise to keep no a six per cent, ■standard. It would be three short in Home wafers in the summer four in 1915 and two in 1916. It had also completely failed to carry out its Mediterranean pledges.