Italy as a Naval Power.

Hastings Standard, Issue 207, 29 December 1896, Page 4

Italy as a Naval Power.

While. according to one cable despatch, the ;>ropo;-t,-d vote of £10,000,000 to strengthen the French Navy has been negatived by the Chamber of Despntifs, another message shows that some agitation is going on in Italy concerning the weakness of the Italian Navy. The revelation that the additions sanctioned in 18*7 have fallen far short of the authorisation, though of course due to Italy's poverty, must have caused some alarm. Some six or seven weeks ago, the l'«H Mull drew attention in a series of articles on i 4 Kuropo in the Mediterranean," to Italy's weakness, and the reprinting of these articles in leading Italian journals produced an uneasy impression. The Koine correspondent of the I'till Mull writing in October last, said that the decadence of the Italian navy, compared to what it should be is very noticeaide. According to the. law of IHH7, by which £21,720,000 were voted for the increase of the lleet in ten years, Italy should have in ls9Ksi\teenbattleships, twenty-three armed cruisers, twentv cruisers, twelve' destroyers, seven despatch-boats, ten gunboats and 178 torpedo boats. There will be lacking one battleship, two armed cruisers, ten erasers, ten destroyers, live gunboats, and sixty-one torpedo boats. This entirely agrees with the cable message just received which states the deficiency at twenty-eight ironclads and sixty-one torpedo boats. Among contributing causes to the present agitation in Italy must be mentioned the fact that Cavalier Dante Parenti, secretary to Signor Drin, Minister of the Navy, recently published a most remarkable study on the lleets of all the maritime nations, in which he stated noteworthy conclusions with regard to Italy. Cavalier Parenti is considered one of the highest naval authorities, while Signor Ilrin may be called the creator of the Italian lleet, it having been under his former administration at the naval department that the greatest impulse to the navy was given, the budget of which was at that time increased from i' 1,920,000 to .six million pounds. Now it has decreased to 720,000, while the English budget i< live times larger, the French almo-t thive times, the Russian double and the Austrian one-third. It is all very well for the < > v </.» Wi/mli to urge that a "potent navy"' would give Italy "that military position and that consideration" which she does not possess ; but the building of a navy may bring the country to the verge of bankruptcy, and the_ people to active revolt against oppressive taxation. The Italian Minister of the Navy has already succeeded in having his budget increased from I"-!, 720,000 to £1.120,000. but it is contended that a permanent advantage cannot be obtained until this budget is raised, if not to £(5,000,000, as in I*B9, at least to £1.800,000. The question is : Can Italy stand the strain of such expenditure. after her heavy losses in Africa '? She is not the only European Power that has to face this problem, but in her case the crisis is most acute.