THE BRITISH NAVY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXI, Issue LXII, 19 June 1912, Page 5

THE BRITISH NAVY.

DEFENCE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN.

■BT CiBLE-PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. LONDON, June 18. .Sjord Charles Beresford, in a letter "to the newspapers, says that the new allocation of the fleet means that the Government is determined to abandon the naval defence of the Mediterranean, which is a main link in the defence of the Empire, and is going to rely upon a -system of alliances, which has always proved disastrous. Germany holds England glued to the narrow seas, and the flank of the Empire is exposed to Italian and Austrian surprises. During the last decade six out of thirteen naval bases have been dismantled of their garrisons, and others have had their fleets reduced. The Empire is now short ■of 20,000 men.