THE CHINESE NAVY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue 7386, 12 February 1902, Page 2

THE CHINESE NAVY.

There is something pathetically amusing about tbe Chinese proposal to engage Lord Charles Beresford as Instructor to their Imperial Navy. It is interesting to inquire what Lord Charles would do with the navy if he had it under his control. There was little of it left after the Japanese war, nine German-built cruisers, two British- built, and half-a-dozen gunboats only escaping, but some additions were made in 1898 and 1899. The Allies crippled some of these vessels, but tbe Chinese Navy is now much in the condition in which Lord Charles Beresford found it in 1898. It had a few good men trained by British instructors, but it was terribly tinder-mannned and extensively starved by the authorities, so that it was far from efficient. " Many Chinese authorities," says Lord Beresford, " asked my advice as to the fleet. I recommended them to put what ships they had left in order for police purposes,, pointing out that such vessels should be able to stop the j piracies at and about Canton. I strongly recommended them not to expend any more money for naval armaments, since the work of protection which devolved on them demanded rather a military than a naval development. In' my opinion, the first thing they ought to do is to provide that security for trade and commerce which only military and police can - give." The waste of money in the Naval department, as in all other Chinese Departments, is appalling. Hundreds of useless war junks are kept along the coast, the Viceroys and other officials receiving large sums for maintenance and for the payment of crews. The only dockyard is ac Foochow, and here, again, money has been poured away. The one dry dock is capable of holding a cruiser of about 3000 tons, but the sides are cracked and broken, and the foundations far from secure. No one but a Chinese captain would let his ship be taken into it. Lord Charles Beresford's frankness, in criticising these arrangements, did not increase his popularity among Chinese officials, but it has evidently impressed their masters. — Exchange.