NEEDS OF THE NAVY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 160, 31 March 1908, Page 5

NEEDS OF THE NAVY.

THE TWO-POWER STANDARD. "There can bo no doubt that in 1908 England stands at tho parting of tho ways. Tho Navy estimates ot the present ysar will try tho British Government and tho British Admiralty decisively. They will show whether tho policy of 'cutting-'down tho Navy for tho Socialists' has been abandoned in face of the enormous programme now before the German Reichstag; ■ whether the Government and tho House of Commons understand tho danger which 1 menaces this country, and whether they aro prepared to take steps' to meet the greatest peril that has threatened tho" British Empire sincc tho clays when Napoleon was maiung ready, to invade tiieso islands." . bucii ■ are .'trie opening • sentences ot an article wmcn jir. 'R.\y. Wilson, tlio well-icnown authority. en uavai questions,contributes to the "National itei'iow." fcimso no wrote, the estimates liavo appeared, ana a sigiuilcant' ueha'to ou tile .- maintenance of tho twu-power standard lias taiiun place in tuo llou»e of Commons. There can bo 110 doubt that jir. Wilson will sec m both estimates and' debate the lullilment of ms worst, tears. Though tho Government, and tne'. House emphatically rejected Air. Jlurray Alacaonald's demand for still, lurtlier reductions, tho Ministerial programme evidently, falls far short : of what Air. .Wilson considers to bo tho minimum .which, safety requires, if his, view 01 tho outlook bo correct, the tworpower standard is iiot in' lact being adhered to, and the. reason for Air, Balkmr's insistence upon ail explicit declaration of laith in it btcomes. obvious.

In ono important respect tho estimates bear witness to tho shrewdness of Air. Wilson's criticism. Remarking upon ' his own persistent warnings, against tho liisuthcicncy of the sums ailccaietf 111 tile J&st throe years to tho building' bf small cruisers 'and destroyers, ho says: —"The Nemesis of such-mis-placed economy is now seen in the fact that tho funds available for new construction this year will be largely mortgaged—required' tor tho construction of smaller cruisers and destroyers, which ought to liavo been provided irt instalments in former / years. Thus, at the very, moment., when .a great expansion in'. the battleship • programme is-vital to British prcstigo and ' security, tho Admiralty finds that, millions will bo wanted for other 'and:,less important' types of slap to make good tho inexorable olfects 'of wear and tear; it, finds,' too, that other millions 'will bo needed to build, (tlio now docks in tho North. Sea, without which, the British fleet will bo handicapped in its-,-work., .The. four years which have passed sinco the site of. Rosyth was acquired have 'been wasted in-wretched squabbles bctwoentho Almiralty and Treasury; the money which should have been'dc- • voted.to tlio crcatfoii of a,great baso there has been-turned'to other and less important uses; and now tho Admiralty is confronted by tho fact that it. must set to work, with' despcrato haste, and pour out millions, if this country/is not. going to be , out-distanced by lifcs rivals. . _ .Tho seven German docks now built; or, building on tlio North Sea/and the eighth projected, must, bo facod by at least eight-British docks; and evenoight aro not enough. This means that six docks for, 'Dreadnoughts' must bo constructed in tho immediate futuro." . -1-

On turning to the estimates published latterly',; it will'- be observed that, while only • one Dreadnought ' and'' 0110 armoured' cruiser aro ito be • laid down, ■ the major , part of tho ■ comparatively small sum, £7,545,U02, allowed for' new-construction is to bo expended on six protected cruisers, sixteen destroyers, and! a number of submarines.. At tho samo: time, provision- has te ibp uiado for tho Rosyth, base.-. :NMrV;Wilson shows'Jfroni diagrams of oomparativo ex : penditiiro and..comparative: tonnage that for. the past few years Great '-Britain 'lias been losing its' lead, until in '1907 .it actually fell bolow tho standard,! anil, barely: kept .paco with Germany aloiio in construction. .In viow of. foreign programmes—more especially the German and American—he indicates that (unless 1 thoso.programme's are greatly modified) tho British Government, must, to. hold its own in tho'race,-lay down-yearly, oiglit Dreadnoughts —.'precisely , i tho -number roquired by Mr. Stead's standard of-two keels for Germany's one. : That involves ah outof £17,000,000 a .year on new construction, and '-total - jia.val estimates'of - from £45,000,000 to £50,000,000. ' Great Britain, Mr. Wilson concludes,-must husband its rcvenuo, j,ayoid 'old-age--pensions and other exand concentrate its attention, upon tho noods of tho Navy, or give up-its claim to supremacy of tho seas. -