"TWO-POWER."

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 519, 28 May 1909, Page 7

"TWO-POWER."

« >. IMPORTANT LIMITATION OP MEANING. ' MR. ASQUITH'3 VIEW. UNITED STATES FLEET NOT IN SAME CATEGORY. PROTEST BY'MR. BALFOUR." !n* TKi.£uii«ci(— piicss association—conmanT.i (Rcc. May 27, 11.50 p.m.) London, May 27. ■In tho Houso of Commons Cnpt, J. Craig, Unionist moniber for East Down, moved: That the Houco views with alarm any meditication of the two-Power 'standard, as defined by Mr. Asquith ' 'on .'November 12, In the course-' of his reply, the Primo Minister, Mr. Asquith, said:— t At tho present moment, whatovo'r two Powers are selected, tholr combined effective strength for agnrssslvs purposes Is far below Britain's defonsivo strenoth.' The expression "two-Powor" states a purely empirical generalisation. The United States fleet cannot bo-put .In - the same category with the French and tho German fleets. Tho Leader,of tho Opposition, Mr. Balfour, eaid that Mr. Aaqtiith's implication that tbero ought to be only a two-Power strength in Homo waters was a 'most dangerous doctrino. The fleet ought to bo prepared to defend tho Empire wherover it was attacked. It would be an Ontiro change of policy if Britain abandoned tho two-Power standard whenovor tho Mediterranean, tho distant colonics, or tho West Indios wcro concerned. An amendment expressing confidence in tho Government's policy was carried by 160 votos, tho voting being:— For the Amendment ... ■ ... ... 272 - Against 106 : Governmßiit majority '... 166 [In tho House of Commons on November 12 Mr. Arthur Lee asked tho Prime Minister if tho Government accepted the two-Power standard of naval strength as meaning a'preponderance of 10 per cent, over tho combined srengths 'n 5 capital ships of the next two strongest Powers, ■ Mr. Asquith replied, "Tho answer is in tho • affirmative."] 3. ".. '-. .■ ,- ■'.'■-. .. . . "an american view: of anglo-german '. '■'. ■;;■ '■'■■ '■ ':■ -only two results..•'■■/;•"' Mr. Lewis Nixon, an American battleship designer, who' recently returned to New York -.' from a trip to Germany nnd'St; Petersburg, . whore he oomplotod a contract for a number 3' of Russian torpedo-beats, has been interviewed • on.-the probable issue of Anglo-Gorman- naval rivalry.-, H6 takes. a, frankly. alarmist •.. vtoW • :'of the situation. ,'•.,',,■,■,' : ; , '. ' i ; "I see only two ways-In which this contest; '.'can end,".he sirs; "and one way in which it ; , is likely to end. -.One way. would bo for the ' two nations to. continue to match battleships ' .until: one of them ' becomes- financially exhausted and is willing to give up and drop 1 ! back to a place in tyic'.list-of second-rate ; ; Powers. The other way is to fight it out." . No Limit to Sitt.' -i ■ "; X '.\ j V"ls there any reason except national bankruptoy," asked the interviewer, "why Germany and, England cannot go on building even ) greater battleships—ln other words, ,is v there 1 any insurmountable mechanical difficulty?" : None whatever." Mr. Nixon 1 replied, "I cxpect that the battleships that will be- built ten ! .years ■ from now , will. far exceed : In -..size and > cost ahything"that: is now afloat or projootod. ;There is-no-reason why even 10,000 or-50,000 ; .ton- warships could not ,bo ,built,-.and'suoh- ' 'ships-will be,-.bvilt,':. provided./therp .be.iiore- '.- yolution'.intho,>methods,of,naval,warfare'that would make them useless."., ;. '-;;.'" ~/!';'i.';;/' • /'Wireless" Battles. - : '\ > /.'.-'/ :; . ' "What kind of a-Evolution in navaK warfare might have Buch a result?",, - "Well, here's one kind: Did you notice a ;■ little item in the newspapers' when the American Fleot,-was crossing the Atlantic its '. world trip about a. man-who had been injured by, a current'; of electricity: that" was' passing between two wireless telephones?" ; , Very few persons' rend it, becauso it was tucked awny |. on tho inside; pages, but in my opinion it was very impprtnnt. • To me it suggested the idea that a discovery-may be made, any day that will onabl'e one battleship to discharge a tremondous volume of• oleotricity, nt a ship por--1 haps five miles- distant, and instantly kill everyone onboard. ■"Marooni-has shown that electricity can be .1 sent, without wires, and all'that remains to :be done .before the electric battleship oah bo- . come. a . fact is to ; discover how to-direct the ourrcht so that it will go only-one way 'and not kill those aboard tho ship that so'nds' it, I believe that this will be done some ■ ..time." :■'■ ,•'.''.: -;.- ■■ r: . Bankruptcy or War, .'..'. t:~. -Mr. Nixon Vstlmmbd up his view'of the Situation bj'-snying that the building the first : Dreadnought gave Germany opportunity, whioh she .seems to be trying" to. grasp,; to wrest from iMigland her nhval. supremaey and to tako with it her foreign trade. With battleships costing -.112,000,000. apiece, and neither nation willing to be outdone by the other, the I'result, whatever it may -be—bankruptcy or war—cannot, in .his;opinion, be long delayed Personally, he expects "to,see. within five years the most terrific war in the world's history between; England and Germany," ,