NAVAL ESTIMATES.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 14 March 1925, Page 9

NAVAL ESTIMATES.

BRITISH PROGRAMME. AIRSHIP DEVELOPMENT. WORK AT SINGAPORE. BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. Received March 14, 11.35 a.m. LONDON, March 13. The navy estimates tor 1925-26 amount to £60,500,(JU0, an increase oi £4,700,000 as compared with the current veal*. This figure does not include the provision for new construction which is now being considered, but provides for the completion of the cruisers Effingham, Emerald, and Enterprise, and the submarines L 26 and L 29, while the construction of the battleships Rodney and Nelson, five cruisers of the Kent class, a minelayer, two destroyers and one submarine will he further advaneed. The Admiralty! is greatly interested in the development o< airships, in view ot their possible value for naval reeonnaisance, and the Admiralty, in concert with the Air Ministry, is studying designs of mooring masts in ships, which is an important development, and if successful will enhance the value of airships for naval purposes, will reduce base expenditure, and render bases mobile. The personnel of the fleet is 102,C00, an increase of 2175. The Estimates provide for the resumption' of work and the development of a naval base at Singapore, which is emphasised as a vital* link in the chain of communications with the British Dominion's in the Pacific.

The Right Hon. W. C. Bridgman, First Lord of the Admiralty, states in his explanatory note to the Estimates that the reasons advanced by the late Government for suspending the Singapore scheme have been examined by his Majesty’s present advisers and fou n d unconvincing.—R enter.