THE NAVAL SITUATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 508, 15 May 1909, Page 13

THE NAVAL SITUATION.

Sir,—l hare'just'received -a letter from a friend in London (I shall be glad to forward the letter should you wish it), wherein Jie speaks of New Zealand's offer of a first-class battleship. : "It is rightly regarded as a very noble offer indeed.: When one considers, as that excellent paper, the 'Standard',puts it, that the population is just a million, .and'the revenue small/ it .is' a .'magnanimous offer. I consider that such magnificent loyalty deserves the. recognition of every, man jack in the London streets or- the country Villages. Are we to see shrapnel break the dome.of our beloved St. Paul's : Gathedral ?. Are the glorious mosaics, the greatest artistic achievement of Europe, probably, of the present day to be torn to pieces and then carted off to Borlin or, Dresden? Are tho* tombs of Edward the Confessor and William'Rufus to be rifled 'bjj' German artillerymen for any jewels they .mightycontain?,No,. ,we . trust. not'; Tho House, is getting" angry and tho country very uneasy about the condition of tho Navy. Lord Charles' Beresford is the darling of the country, and represents the Navy to, tho man in the street just as Lord Roberts represented the Army! Sir, Percy Scott's retirement is looked upon,as a loss to'the country. Opinions differ about Sir John Fisher. Your , League believes in him; the Maritimo League holds a rather different;opinion,. I believe, but it is very difficult .to say who is to blamo." ■ : . . ' >' • I would like to quote from Mr. M'Konna's speech in the House of, Commons on March 16th. "Wo know that the Germans have a law which," when all tho ships under it are ■ completed, ! will_give, a navy more powerful than any in existence.", The First Lorii of k the Admiralty also made this startling pent:'; "Two years, ago, I beHeve, there .wore in Germany, with 1 the possible exception of one or. two slips in private' yards, no slips capable of . carrying a Dreadnought. Today they have no fewer . than fourteen such ■slips,' and threo more aro in course of construction;, What is true of slips is true also of guns, armaments, and .mountings;.To such an extent has their production developed that..it- will tax, the. .resources'of; our.<gre.it firms if we, are to retain our superiority in construction." . . , , . . ...... ■ After; .tho Peace of "-Utrecht,''-''Britain regained the only sea Power," a similar vor;dict : was pronounced one hundred ;years lato after.Trafalgar. - Will-history-repeat itself> at the end of the hundred years now near completion ?—I am, etc., : :1 '; ' , ' , , , ROBERT DARROCH. Afay.ll, 1909. r