AUSTRALIA’S WAVY

Evening Star, Issue 17956, 1 May 1922, Page 6

AUSTRALIA’S WAVY

ADMIRAL DUMARESQ’S CRITICISM. Pi'?« 3 Association —By Telegraph—Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Press Association. SYDNEY, April ( 3o. Rear-admiral Durnarcsq, the departing commander of the Australian navy, in an interview, commented on the unpleasant fact that the Australians failed to realise the importance of preserving a. minimum naval force which would preserve the soul of anything that could 1 ho called a. fleet, and that must he preserved through bad 1 times as welt as good. If the total amount spent by the sport-loving Australians on racing and other sports was assessed it would amount to very many times tho cost of a tactically ellicicnt Royal Australian fleet. He could not help feeling that on his arrival in England he would feel ashamed of Australia on account of the attitude it had taken up over tho navy. Speaking of the future, Admiral Dumarcsq expressed the hope that the Commonwealth navy would never be allowed to chop below three light cruisers and' a small minimum of destroyers and submarines, The soul of anything like a navy could 1 not be maintained below that limit. Referring to developments at the Genoa Conference, the admiral urged the need of keeping up an adequate minimum naval force to secure a fair share of the world’s markets and the raw material of the world, and, in tho case of Australia, the freedom of the seas to export her primary products.—A. and N.Z. Cable,