THE NAVY LEAGUE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 73, 19 December 1907, Page 9

THE NAVY LEAGUE.

AN INTERESTING CIRCULAR LETTER, THE GERMAN PERIL. By Tuesday's • English mail, Mr. Cecil Palmer, local secretary for the Navy Lengue, received n highly interesting circular letter from the London headquarters* secrotnry, donling with ; various matters 'affecting tho nation's power on tho sou. One portion of this letter says:—"l previously stated that our shipbuilding programme was dependent upon the re.sult of The Hague Conference. That function not having attained the results that tho preHont Government hoped it might do, we can now assumo that the shipbuilding programme for tho current year will bo tho building of three vessols of tho St. Vincent class (confirmed in the public Press since this letter was drafted). On tho other hand, we know that Germany is commencing four Dreadnoughts and.one cruiser, which may be considered the same typo as our Invinciblcs. So far as one can judge from tho very complicated reports of The Hague Conference, little satisfactory result has boon obtained, save that we can form tho opinion by Germany's refusal to agree to the limitation of floating mines, nnd indirectly by hor construction •of minelaying vessels that sho intends this particular form of warfare to play an important part in the future. It is, of course, a question of world-wide interest, for tho unrestricted use pf mines is a menace alike to belligerents and neutrals. Whether the recognition .-.of this terrible nature of war will make for. tho preservation'of peace is a very open question. ■

Superiority of Dreadnoughts. "The future shipbuilding programme, which presumably is now being framed, ■ is one ■of considerable interest to all .Navy Leaguers. Wo have, of courso, tho statement of the- Cawdor Memorandum that dur wants would be mot by the laying down of four large: armourcH fihips annually. That lias sinco been modifiod bythu laying down in this and last year of threo Dreadnoughts. It may perhaps be that the Powers consider that three Dreadnoughts aro equal to any four armoured shins that have preceded them. I should not bp prepared to argue against that assumption, but as tho need in the coming year will bo for medium, seized cruisers and more destroyers, wo should be prepared to.resist any attempt to cut down the building of the three large urniou'red ships that inferentially by. the Cawdor Momoranduui have been declared as necessary. . Modern Conditions. : ■-.;.-; ' "The concentration of the great mass 'of battleships round tho British shore brings about a condition of affairs that is not as satisfactory as one might wish, In past years our warships have always been brought to their greatest efficiency when on foreign stations, during. a long commission. Undor, present conditions two years .is"the longest, time that a ship's company is kept together, and if you consider that the great bulk of the (ihips in tho British Navy, are now kopt constantly praising in Home waters, you will very well understand that by weok-end leave,' and, when in harbour, leave every ovoning. the discipline of the crows must inccessarily suffer, not only, amongst the ;men but amongst the officers. That is a condition.of things for which it, is not oasy to see a romedy. Further, tho men'of the lower deck are beginning to think arid road, and there, ; arc certain publications'which do not attoinpt to pour any oil on troubled wators where such exists. The comparatively recent outbreak at Portsmouth Barracks is a caso in point. ' Wo cannot always keep our fleet mobilisation oh a war footing, for one reason neither ofiicerslnor men! could stand the constant strain of, always bping wound up to concert' pitch, and hence tho Navy of to-day is going through what may bo termed a transition stage. . The Cult of tho Sword. ,-• ' ' , "Despite anything that may be said, to the contrary it is no use for Britons to blink their eyes to the fact that: a conflict between Germany ami-this country appears' to bo. inovitablo i)i the future. It one may make use qf an expression, which perhaps lays itself open to misconception, it would bo that Ger"many is a nation advancing to that wo/ship of physical force, which in past.: ages has .been symbolised, as.the worship..of l ''or;'the .cult of the sword. They have seen so clenfly as tho result 'of ■ftlfeUPtflncbr-GdVinari''- Wdr tliat; i; ffig]it means c right, and they so: 'chafe"'' uftder "the suggestion .that although they are the greatest military ■ power,: they are, not the;, greatest navnl power, and,., therefore, aro .circmnsqribed' in their ."s'phcro of action; that thoy are,'.willing to inc\ir any risk to wrest naval {supremacy from the hands of Britain, but the Uerman is, of all things, an opportunist. Sho has long cast covetous'eyes' on Brazil and the surrounding country.! Sho must expiind or endeavour to, or see her surplus population absorbed by Great Britain or- ..her Colonies, This latter alternative • is very. distasteful," canscnuently it' will bo a master of interest, should the Uiiitnr) , States> persist in- sendinn their ships, into the Pacific, to oec what will bo tho;attitude of Gormany under those-con-ditions."