IF WAR SHOULD COME

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 210, 1 June 1926, Page 8

IF WAR SHOULD COME

NECESSITY FOR BEING PREPARED STRONGER NAVY WANTED THE VALUE OF SINGAPORE » Yesterday was the anniversary of the Wellington branch of the Navy League, and the day was celebrated locally as “Jellicoe Day.” A meeting was held at the Town Hall last night, when an address was delivered by Commander Middleton, secretary of the Auckland branch of the Navy League. Mr. R. D. D. McLean, president of the Hawke’s Bay branch, and vicepresident of the Wellington branch of the Navy League, who presided, said that Commander Middleton had seen 25 years’ service with tire Royal Navy. He had commanded the naval division at the siege of Ladysmith, during the Boer War, and had had charge of a fleet of small craft during the Great .War. Commander Middleton, who-was received with applause, said that the duties of a navy were threefold. The main function of the main fleet was to “contain the enemy,’ .which meant to keep him in his ports or in certain waters where he would be harmless. Another function was maintaining the loutes of commerce. It took the Royal Naw five months to put the Gneisenan and' Scharnhorst out of action in the early part of the war. It had to be remembered that the Japanese Navy took charge of the whole of the North Pacific Ocean. Notwithstanding this, it nviuired 65 vessels to destroy the eight German vessels in the Pacific and convoy the troops going to the war. The Emdeta had done millions of pounds worth of damage in the Indian Ocean. The United States of America, outside the Philippines, Hawaii, and Cuba, all of which she intended to. hand back, had nothing like the outside responsibilities which rested upon Great Britain. Every few years there had to be a complete orientation of naval strength. He recalled the Russian scare which disappeared, with the Battle of Tsushima. Then arose the German menace. The Powers they had to think of at. the present time were America, Japan, Brazil, and the Argentine. It was generally admitted that we would never have to fight against America. Brazil and the Argentine had some modem ships, and it had to be remembered that we had long trade routes to maintain along their coasts. Great Britain stood for peace, and the ■ best means to maintain neace was to be prepared for war. The only way to regard foreign navies was as merely potential enemies. It was known that two million pounds had been spent in making Formosa a naval base, and vet under the Washington Treaty Singapore had not even been mentioned. The next war would come very speedily. Japan at the present time bad 33 cruisers in commission. They could send these cruisers down, to Australian waters and all our cruisers could do, with their, inferior armament, would be to skip into port. Need for Singapore. The sooner we got a naval base at Singapore, where we could maintain some decent sized ships, the better for the Empire, he continued. If war came the first thing that would happen would be the stoppage of all exports from New Zealand. All benX zine and oil supplies would be cut off, and in a very short while no trains or electric light would be running, and we would have the pleasure of going back to the old custom <jt melting down fat in order to make candles. We proudly pointed to the fact that we had two cruisers here—the Dunedin and the ' Diomede. We were paying fo? the upkeep of two cruisers by no means of the most powerful class. The Old Country, despite its worries during the past few years, was paying heavily to give the overseas. Dominions protection. On the basis of protection the people of New Zealand were paving £5 for every £lOOO of exports, while the Mother Country was paying ten times as much. It was very .difficult for the' powers that be to work in advance of public opinion. A certain amount of money had to be collected for naval purposes each year, and it was the duty of all to tell the people that the Empire must have more for the navy. The chief difficulty was apathy. What good, the speaker asked, were racing, sporting, and social clubs? A man would think nothing of paving 15 guineas for his club subscription, but if asked to subscribe a guinea a year towards the Navy League he squirmed. The German navy deteriorated because the ships were confined to port during the Great War while the British Fleet was under active service conditions. The Battle of Jutland had been widely discussed, but it had to be remembered that the duty of the Grand Fleet was to contain the enemy. It would have been better if we had been able to smash the German fleet, but it was just bad luck that the Germans had been able to escape in the night. When, ordered to make a great demonstration the German sailors had murdered their officers and thrown them overboard. That was the beginning of the breakup of the German nation. We bad been given the greatest Empire the world had ever seen, and it could only he maintained by preparation In the naw they had always to look about ten vears ahead, and one never knew what might happen in ten jearS Britain Drops Back. Before the war Britain had more destroyers than all the other nations put together; now she had half as many as America. We were dropping behind, aud it was a dangerous thing. If war came, and our men had to go out, as they had at Coronel, against superior shins they would not have a sporting chance. If every Navy Leaguer would give one hour a week to Navy League matters, and obtain one new member a year, they could do a great deal m the direction .of influencing public opinion towards the necessity 01, strengthening the vote for naval do fe The Mayor (Mr. C. J. B. Norwood), in moving a vote of thanks to Commander Middleton, said we may be living in a fool’s paradise, and might wake up when it was too late.. The vote of thanks was, carried by acclamation. Special Service Order Presented. The chairman then presented to Mrs. Harding, secretary of the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Wellington branch of the Navy League, a special service order, which had been sent out from the head office of the league in London. A high-class concert programme was submitted by Messrs. S. Allwright, M. L. de Mauny, and Miss Taylor, with Mr B Page at the piano, each of the performers having to appear several times A vote of thanks to those who had ’ supplied the programme was passed on the motion of Str Alexander Roberts. Refreshments were supplied at th« close of the meeting by the members of the L«die*' Auxiliary,