ARMY AND NAVY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1908, Page 7

ARMY AND NAVY.

■■■■' *■ ' ] DETAILS OF THE ESTIMATES. | SA.VING ON FOEMEE. | SLIGHT INCREASE IN NAVY VOTE. By Telegraph.— Press Association.— Copyright. LONDON, 25th February. In tho Houbo of Commons yesterday the details of the Army and Navy Esti- , mates were announced. There is a net saving on tho Army Estimates of £301,000, the total amount being £27,459,000, and the number of men on the Home and colonial establishments, exclusive of India, 185,000, a reduction of five thousand. The Right Hon. R. B. Haldane, Secretary of State for War, is withdrawing from the Southern garrisons one cavalry regiment and four battalions of infantry. The net Navy Estimates amount to £32,319,500, as against £31,419,500 last year. In a memorandum attached to the Estimates, Lord Tweedrnouth, First Lord of the Admiralty, shows that the increase is duo to tho fact that coal, food, and material are all dearer. Tho construction of new ships accounts for £7,545,202, tho vessels to be built including:— \ One improved battleship of the Dreadnought type. Ono large armoured cruiser. Six fast protected cruisers. Sixteen torpedo-boat destroyers. And some submarines. It is intended to proceed with tho construction of tho naval baso at Rosyth, on the Firth of Forth. The Govcrnmont, tho Minister announced, had every intention of maintaining the standard hitherto deemed necessary to safeguard national and Imperial interests. REAL INCREASE IN NAVY ESTIMAJTES IS SMALL. ONLY A TEMPORARY PROGRAMME. GREAT INCREASE IN 1909 EXPECTED. (Received February 26, 8.54 a.m.) LONDON, 25th February. The Times says:— "Although tho Navy Estimates exhibit a normal increase of £900,000, tho real increase is under £14,C00, the rest being automatic and inevitable." Tho Timos implies, that the Government reduced tho original estimates by half a million below the point the Admiralty considered advisable. All tho newspapers realisa that the Naval programme is temporary, and anticipate a great increaas in 1909. ABUNDANT WAR PLANS. SOUND KNOWLEDGE OF LONGRANGE SHOOTING. LONDON, 25th February. Lord Tweedmoulh's Navy memorandum states that the Admiralty possesses abundant war plans, and plans for elaborate strategical operations, nnd declares that sound knowledge of longrange shooting is thoroughly permeating tho fleet. REDUCTION OF GARRISON ARTILLERY. THE STANDARD'S OPINION. LONDON, 25th February. The Standard deplores tho reduction in tho number *of tho regular forces by 5000, and adds that the reasons inducing Mr. Haldane to form a territorial army furnish an unanswerable argument j against reducing the- garrison artillery I by a thousand. REASSURING. j An important article* on the present state of the Navy ia contiibuted to the January number of tho Fortnightly Re- ! ( view by Mr. Archibald S. Hurd. In \ , view of tho flood of anonymous and ir- ! ! rerponsilo criticism which has recently bqen poured upon tho naval administration of Sir John Fisher, Mr. Hurd's conclusions, based a3 they are on ad- I mittod and incontrovertible statistics, ! arc eminontly reassuring. 1 Mr. Huri! makes an informal enquiry into the state of the Navy to-day, and its condition ten years ago, and by contrast doduccs the progress made. Ten I years ago thcro was a general feeling that tho state of tho Navy was such as to occasion grievous anxiety. For nearly two-thirds of a year, fc-i instance, there was uo organised navivl force of any kind in British waters, an.l with the Channel Squadron fhoro wa& not a single torpedo cwift < Inly Iwonty-fivo I of thcFo vessels were in commisoion at ! all, and tho crews woro constantly being j changed. To-day every torpedo cvaft ! is in commi&eion, and the crews aro changed ns rarely as possible-. Ten years ago the ships in reserve were only manned to tho extent oi twothirds of their complement, anc; wore "strung round the coast, safely tied up. Tho oilicers and men might almost as well have been living in barracks at Barking, "l'he ships were uncomfortable) ; tho ' standard of disciplino , was not high. They remained throughout the year. . . . in lamentable unpreparedncss for war." Thoro were also fahips entirely unmanI ned FLEETS IN HOME WATERS. "In place of disorganisation as it existed ten years ago," saya Mr. Hurd, j "we havo to-day three largo fleets in ■ homo waters. !hc Channel Fleet con1 Bists of fourteen battleships, six arm- ! oured cruisers, fix protected cruisers, I four auxuliary ships for repairs, stores, I and despatch work, and thirty destroyers. . . This lleet. .is always manned to war sl~ength. "In place of eight armtiurod shipa during only a portion of tho year wo have always in British waters twentysix battleships, fifeen armoured cruisers, thirteen protected cruisers, and flftyfoiu destroyers, besides submarines. . . Supporting this first line aro six battleships, twonty-two cruisers, and upwards of 140 torpedo craft." In comparison with ten years ago there arc moic than twice as many ship's in commission, each one organised for wav and the centre of war training. In tho period no Power has niado as great Drouiefis.