BRITAIN’S SECOND NAVY.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 44, 22 September 1887, Page 2

BRITAIN’S SECOND NAVY.

If our telegraphic despatches from London the other day are to be relied upon the British Admiralty have at last recognized the urgent necessity which exists for increasing the number of cruisers available in time of war, During the Russian scare of two years ago, the British Government chartered some dozen or so of the fastest Atlantic steamers and fitted them out as armed cruisers. This was done with a considerable loss of time and at a very large expense, and it was then felt that some more systematic and less expensive method of providing such auxiliaries should be adopted. This has now been done by the Bill recently passed by the House of Commons providing for the pre-emption as it were by the Admiralty, in time of war, of all steamers having a maximum speed of 16 knots. The shipowners did not meet the measure in any hostile spirit, but assisted the Admiralty very materially by giving the necessary data to work upon, and it is highly satisfactory to see that a patriotic view of the situation has been taken, and a second navy made available for the protection of the Mother country and her colonial children.

No other country, or even three countries can show such a magnificent fleet of merchant steamers as can our own, and when we remember that the latest built vessels and those to be built, are being fitted with an express view to their utilization in time of war by the Government, the strength is doubly great. Superb new vessels like those recently built for the great Transatlantic Companies, the P. and 0., our New Zealand Shipping Company and other lines, all possessing high capabilities as to speed and capable of carrying guns of

moderate weight, will prove wonderful auxiiaries should ever the colonies be again threatened with attack by England’s foes, and when in addition we rbmbthber that nearly every coaling station in the Pacific is a British possession or is under British influence, the next Russian scare is not likely to prove the grim spectre It was last time it appeared on the horizon. With the careful system of defence works recently carried out in this and the Australian colonies and with a plentiful supply of swift, well-armed cruisers to back up the slower, more ponderous ironclads; we have no need to fear for the safety of either our ports Or our shipping in time of war. Privateering was to be Russia’s trump card in case of a combat, but she will now find that for every privateer she can put on the water Great Britain can put ten, and that her threat of “ smashing up” British commerce by seizing her merchant vessels and descending upon her colonial posts, will be found more feasible in theory than in practice,