FOSTERING LOYALTY

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 57, 9 March 1922, Page 4

FOSTERING LOYALTY

POSITION OF NAVY LEAGUE

EFFECT OF WASHINGTON CONFERENCE.

What effect the decisions of the Washington Conference should have on the activities of the Navy League is discussed in a. statement made by the president of the Wellington branch, Mr. 3. P; Firth. The .statement is as follows:—

The Washington Conference has done work that all of us regard with great satisfaction as being in tho direction of lessening the intolerable burden imposed by competition in, armaments, and of improving- the friendly relations of .the Great Powers. But our interest in the •British Navy must'never be allowed to flag, and the work open to the Navy League is just as important as ever. The question of auxiliaries, air forces and submarines, should be kept in the forefront. And, even if competition in ships be prevented, there is bound to be competition in equipment, and in that allimportant branch of armament, that branch which has been and is our proud, boast—the quality of the man-power. It will be well for us to study Lord Jellicoe's message to" the youth of New Zealand: "The-sea is our life. By the use of it the Empire was formed. By holding it the Euipire\has been preserved. If we foil to appreciate its' value, the Empire •will perish/ We must remember that what was done at Washington, even if the conditions are all carried out, constitutes only a respite, a holiday, until 1938. The sea-sense upon which such stress is rightly laid as of. first importanpe to an island Power, and especially to the British Empire with its lands in all quarters of the globe, must be cultivated and encouraged. To neglect tlie children of to-day in their education in sea-sense would be to have, in 1933, a people uniostructed in the value of seapower, and out of sympathy with the spirit that has made our Empire what it is.

It Dehoves vis, therefore, to relax no effort to foster a loyal and patriotic spirit, an interest in our great mercantile marine, a feeling of gratitude for the heroic deeds of our forefathers, and a determination on our part to do our duty to our great country—a- determination that there shall be no mere trusting to luck in - the matter of that power which has time and again stood between "our Empire and destruction. While thankful for all that has been done in the way of mutual understanding and hope of peace, we feel that it, is our duty to maintain interest in our Navy and to inculcate the importance of the sea spirit. The Navy League has never been a jingoistic body. With both hands it welcomes the prospect of peace. But it cannot accept any suggestion that now we may a-es-t content 1 and take no further interest in the course of events affecting our first line of defence. The work done by the Wellington branch of the Navy League^ lias always been largely in the direction, of the training of the children in sea-sense, of fostering loyalty, and of encouraging sympathy with the men of the merchant service. The Ladies' Auxiliary has been of immense help to these ends. That is the work towards which we should concentrate our efforts now..