BRITISH NAVY ESTIMATES.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 19 March 1938, Page 7

BRITISH NAVY ESTIMATES.

NEARLY 127 MILLIONS. WAITING ON JAPAN (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, March 17. In the absence of the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr. A. Duff Cooper), who is ill with influenza, the Parliamentary Secretary (Mr. G. H. Shakespeare) presented in the House of Commons the Navy Estimates, which total £126,707,000, an increase of some £18,600,000 over last year. Of the total £30,000.000 is to be raised under the Defence Loans Act. Expenditure on new construction — apart from vessels in. the 1938 programme, which will be the subject of a supplementary Estimate —is £41,500,000. compared with £18,000,000 in 1914. “As to the 1938 programme” said Mr. Shakespeare, “the number of ships had been announced but the question of qualitative limits was affected by the position of Japan. Up to the present no information had been supplied by Japan in reply to a recent joint inquiry by Britain, the United States, and Prance, but it is still possible that on consideration she may decide to take her place with the great naval Powers of the world and agree to give satisfactory assurances that she will abide by the limits of the London Naval Treaty, even if she is not prepared to accede to the treaty. “Representatives of the three Powers mentioned have been conferring as to whether, in the absence of information, they should invoke the escalator clause of the treaty, which is subject to certain conditions and allows the signatory Powers to exceed the qualitative limits laid down. The question has been referred back to the individual Governments and we are not therefore in a position to make an announcement as to our intentions. But if, for example, it is considered necessary to exceed a displacement of 35,000 tons for capital ship? the House can rest assured that our plans for so doing are well advanced.” Fleet Air Arm, Mr. Shakespeare entered into a detailed review of the consequences of the transfer to the Navy of the fleet

air arm and mentioned that there were at present in commission four aircraft carriers, and live new ones were being constructed. Moreover, all capital ships and larger cruisers were to be fitted with aircraft. Mr. Shakespeare spoke of the attitude of the Admiralty to the question of convoys. Where trade was of great importance or density and liable to attack by surface vessels, submarines, or aircraft, the Admiralty view was that a suitably escorted convoy would provide the best means of defence. Where trade was sparse and scattered, or unlikely to be attacked by enemy forces, its safety would be sought by diversion or evasive routing, with such patrols as the circumstances warranted. There had been sitting for some time a very strong committee representative of the shipping interests of the Board of Trade and the Admiralty, and he paid a tribute to the manner in which the leaders of the shipping industry had co-operated in this vital matter. The Admiralty, for its part, was busily engaged in building up reserves of armaments, stores and material necessary to ensure the protection of the merchant navy. MR. CHURCHILL URGES SPECIAL CONSTRUCTION Received Friday, 8.55 p.m. LONDON, March 18. In the House of Commons Mr. i Churchill expressed surprise that the Admiralty was satisfied that Britain had enough destroyers with the 40 being built. He said he should have liked, to see the number doubled. He advocated destroyers, because they were quickly built. Mr. Churchill expressed the opinion that the present tension would not last seven or eight years. The world could not stand the strain, and there would be either a climax or a settlement, with the happy release of disarmament. He hoped the Admiralty would watch the gap between teh limit of 10,000 tons for cruisers, of which Germany had five, and the 25,000-ton limit for battleships and battle cruisers. There was a danger there from Japan, because the construction 'of 15,000-ton vessels, with 12-inch guns, would render the whole series of British and American cruisers obsolete, necessitating a detachment of battle cruisers. Mr. Churchill urged a speeding up in the construction of vessels that could be launched in six to 18 months, instead of consuming energy in building battleships that would not be available for five or six years. The policy should be to provide ample naval power for the near future.

Referring to the Mediterranean, Mr. Churchill said the measures being taken on the island of Pantellaria were certainly not for our benefit. He conlucded that our navy was stronger in relation to Europe than before the war, though then we had a larger fleet. Naval relations between Britain and America were excellent, and the more ships built in the United States the more confidence Britain had that the forces on which world peace depended would be maintained. Licut.-Colonel J. J. Llewellin (Chief Cord of the Admiralty), replying to Mr. Churchill, said there was no indication that Japan was building cruisers between 10,000 tons and the lower limit of the old Washington Treaty. It was too late to change the guns of the five battleships being built, which would be 14-inchers, but measures were being taken to provide, if necessary, 16-inch guns for the battleships projected in the White Paper. Meantime, 14-inch guns were most satisfactory and might be as efficient as other people's 16weapons. i MARRIAGE ALLOWANCES FOR OFFICERS (British Official Wireless). Received Friday, 7 p.m. RUGBY, March 17. Mr. Shakespeare announced new arrangements for marriage allowances for naval officers except the medical branch—and other concessions for warrant officers and commissioned office.! s from warrant rank. The allowance, which will be payable to married officers at the age of 30 up to the rank of Captain in the Navy and LieutenantColonel in the Royal Marines, will be effected by a small reduction in the full pay of all officers, with a few exceptions, and will oe seal d, with additions for children. In an illustrative case, a married officer with one child, if a captain, will receive £IOO extra yearly, and if of lower rank, £SO —that is the marriage allowance after a cut of two shillings a day in thn pay. Warrant officers will suffer no cut and receive marriage allowances on a lower scale, while commissioned officers from warrant rank will suffer a smaller cut in pay than the standard cut and receive the same allowance as warrant officers. An alteration in the rules for promotion and other concessions to warrant officers was also announced. AH concessions will operate from April 1.