THE NAVY AND THE EMPIRE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 July 1924, Page 14

THE NAVY AND THE EMPIRE.

ADDRESS BY VISCOUNT CURZON. LONDON, May 21. Viscount Curzon, M.P., speaking on “The Navy, the Air, and the Empire and Politics,” before the members of the 1912 Club last night, said the attacks on the Navy came from three main sources: the pacifists, whose sincerity must be respected; the economists, and the enthusiasts of the Air Force. The Navy was essentially a defensive force. For over 100 years it had not been used for aggressive ‘purposes. The economists said that we were spending £55,000,000 on the Navy to-day; why spend more than before the war ? The reason was that there had been a war, and part of the Navy had become obsolete. If the Navy was reduced we were unable to speak in the iptprests of peace. The Navy ensured peace. As to aircraft, it might control the narrow seas, but the broad waters of the ocean needed the Navy. On the oceans the Navy remained the same as in the days of Nelson. It was iust as indispensable to the Empire. On the subject of Singapore, he declared that upon no question had the British public been more deliberately misled. Singapore was the point which controlled the trade routes of the East. It would be of enormous importance to the Empire.