DEEPLY DIVIDED

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1912, Page 7

DEEPLY DIVIDED

CANADIAN OPINION ON NAVAL MATTERS COMING CONFERENCE THE TIMES ON THE SUBJECT. *y Teleeriph.— ?resi AMoolatlon.— Copyri«nt, (Received July 1, 10 a.m.) LONDON, 30th June. The Times, commenting on the approaching conference between, the Naval authorities and Canadian Ministers, states that Canadian opinion is deeply divided. The party in power regards it as impossible to have a separatist naval policy and common Imperial citizenship 5 the Liberals, on the other hand, are haunted by a fear that the Dominion might b© drawn into the vortex of European militarism. This fpar, says The Times, has still to be reckoned with. "It is vitally important that any action on the part of the Dominions should have national sanction, and England does not desire to dictate a policy. Mr. Churchill's suggested overseas patz-ol was excellently contrived to avert such fears." Mr. Fred C. Wurtele, of Quebec, write* as follows on '' Canada and Naval Dofence " in the Standard of Empire '.— "The motto of the British Empire is 'One King, one Flag, one Fleet, one Throne.* Thus the British Admiralty must be solely charged with the control of the Empire fleet under the plans of its War Staff. Hence the ships of the oversea Dominions and the Imperial squadrons cannot possibly ' be controlled by an executive, or special Imperial Board of Admiralty, representing each contributor.' Such a combination, would bfl an absurdity and a. weakness by divided opinions set up against the world-wide naval experience of the British Admiralty by oversea representatives who could not be otherwise than ignorant of naval strategy and tactics, let alone the information leaking out to the enemy. While these ships are being built Canada will notify the British Government and the Dominions— that autonomy in naval matters is essential. That representation is imperative. ' That these two important points can only be met by the creation of an Imperial squadron, towards which the British and Dominion Governments -will contribute, and which would be controlled by an executive, or special Imperial Board oi Admiralty representing each contributor.' . . . There can be no autonomous* polemics in naval affairs nor oversea representation in matters of such vital importance to the Empire. There can be no divided command, for such ' go as you please ' operations invite disaster. i The question is not— Shall Canada get up a Navy of gorte, but shall she reinforce the Royal Navy in the firing line? And the only way to do that is to cause the battle-cruiser units to bo built in Britain with as little delay && possible, Canada paying their cost, and they become part of the Royal- Navy, without any strings whatever attached to the assistance. . . . Canada's message to the world is — the Canadian people are determined v that the supremacy of the Imperial Na.vy is of vital importance, ana that she is determined that she will, take upon her shoulders her full sliare of her responsibilities for its maintenance. Iter message to Great Britain is — wo will co-operate, bub representation is a sine qua non. of contribution. We d«mand tho immediate creation of a Special Imperial Squadronj to be controlled by a board representative of our own and Imperial interests. There must bo no divided control or discussions by ignorant oversea representatives, for that certainly means disaster when war breaks- out. . . . So long as Britannia rules the waves there would be small chance of an enemy's marauding cruiser ravaging our coasts. But it would be well to bo prepared for such an eventuality. . . . Warship'u require seamen ; hence the Government, bhould without further delay raise the' naval militia, otherwise the' crews will not be forthcoming. Even the Niobe has only 18b Canadian sailors in hor complement instead of 500, the balance being British tars lent for instructional purposes. It will be many a long day before Canada could begin efficiently to man even one of the prospective battlecruisers. Canada lost none of her much proclaimed autonomy Dy the departure of tho contingents to South Africa, nor can she lose aaiy of that vaunted article by freely contributing battle-cruiser units to the British Admiralty, and so do her share in the defence of the British Empire, which has protected hor ever sine© the conquest in 1759."