SUBMARINES FOR NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 125, 19 February 1908, Page 6

SUBMARINES FOR NEW ZEALAND

Thehe is some reason to believe that the Government lias under consideration the question of supplementing the Harbour defences ,of the Dominion with submarines. As will be seen from an article elsewhere, an investigation of the submarine mining defences is now being conducted, and there is good reason to suppose that this particular, form of defence will gradually give way to the use of submersible boats. At the Colonial' Conference last year the question of naval defence was very fully gone into, and Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the Admiralty, made it very clear that in the event of t]ie colonies, or any of them, deciding on any form 1 of local coastal defence, submarines were the best means to employ. Sir Joseph Ward was particularly pressing iiv his inquiries on this and other points relating to the use of submarines, and Lord Tweedmouth, in addition to supplying a quantity of valuable information, intimated; that the Admiralty were quite as ready to accept assistance in the way of, boats available for local service, as in the form of subsidies. The cost .of a single submarine' is stated to be £50,000, and the annual , cost of maintenance £8000, so that,'so .far -as the financial aspect of the question ,is concerned, New Zealand, even on the existing basis of contribution to the naval defence of the Empirb, could embark on a scheme to establish a local navy of. submarines without, any increase of cost to the country. We are inclined to suspect that the possibility of secur-' ing. a navy of: his own likely to prove of actiml ' value in case of invasion by sea, without any material addition to the.burdens.of the taxpayers of the Do-' minion, has caused the Premier' to change his views in' certain..'respects'; and':that,'definite proposals may, ere long; be "brought down. The idea appears to meet with the approval ol the British Admiralty, and has sufficient in its_ favour, to warrant the careful investigation which we trust is being made. ' •