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Hokitika Guardian, 10 March 1933, Page 4

“The appointment of a new First Sea Lord of the Admiralty is at any time aiii event of national importance, but at few period, 9 in our naval history can an incoming First Sea Lord have shouldered o-veater resnorsilulities than O those which Admiral. Chatfield will be called upon to bear,” Captain B. Acworth wrote in the London Observer. “The Navy, for twelve years the shuttlecock of international politics and the chief target of Disarmament Conferences, has been reduced to a state of relative woakress which can hardly fail to rare p, feeling of eome disruiet among all who appreciate the vital nature of the defence, in event of emergency, which the Navy alone can supply. tT.it "ply is the number of our cruisers inadequate for the protection cf our food and necessary raw material, but in all classes of ships the Navy is rotting from the bottom. That this is no figure of speech hut a glim reality, can be verified by anyone who will study Brassey’s Naval Annual. In 1935, the year :n which the London Naval Treaty lapses, the small fleet allowed to us will include a great proportion of tonnage con-

detuned by the London Treaty, itself as ‘over age’ ai.d obsolete. During Admiral Obatfickl’s tenure of the post of First Eoa. Lord thi,? position " ill almost certainly bo rectified thougn the future size and nature of replacement tonnage is still r. matter c.f consjderu,‘>lo prctcssional controversy upon which Admiral Ghatfiold’s views are not certainly known. At such a juncture in our maritime affair,j the country ijj fortunate in. its new First Sea Lord, for Admiral Cbatfield combined with an almost unrivalled experience of sea command and Admiralty administration a cool and balanced judgment which can be relied upon to maintain the efficiency of the Navy within the limits imposed by the need of rigid economy.”