WHAT THE NAVY DOES.

Mataura Ensign, 23 March 1909, Page 4

WHAT THE NAVY DOES.

A SKA li.Ml'llilv" At this juncture) it. is interest,mi; to recall remarks made in an address delivered m the Garrison Hall, Duuedin last. December by Lieuteud.it H. T. C. Knox (late lt.N.), organising lecturor ol the .Navy League, concerning the vital aim of sea power. In the courso ol that address .Ur Knox remarked: I want you to realise that sea power is as vital to you as to tho people of Uritain, who grow little or no food, because if anything happens to the Untish Fleet you will feel tho blow tiio next minute, and your export trade will be destroyed. Vou stand or fall hy sea power, as does every portion of tho hinpirc. Vou can carry a ton of goods 1 1'om the Uritisli Isles, say, to Uombay, IiOOO miles, by sea tor tile sanio price iliat Uussia, which is a land Kmpire, can carry a ton of goods about. (jOI) miles by rail—that is, when tho railways are running, which is not always lie case. \ oil Have an enormous adiantage, therefore, in possessing a >e;t l'.uipire instead ol a land Empire. Kill, what I want you to realise is not so much y;our advantages as your responsibilities. Vou are trustees for the Empire. You must hand that Empire down intact to tho people who follow you, and you will not do it unless you retain command of the sea. There "'as a dissentient voice when I said we should lay down two Dreadnoughts for every one laid down on the other side of the North Sea, and 1 will tell you why wo should do it: I have been io every port of importance in Gemianv ! t'oni ll'.niden to Danzig. 1 have nothing to say against any foreign nation or any individual in any nation, but I am :, s certain as 1 am standing here that the German fleet is not being built •'illy lor the delonee of the German ■oast-line and lor the protection of German commerce. I have, of course, •io imagination whatever, but [ do not 'liiiik it is being built for these imr:'ns''s alone. Hismai'ck said something • ortli listening | (J when he said this to I be German people: "If we aro obliged io stake the Idood ol our people against our enemies in the field then are we also bound to provide I hem with the ■'est we»|K>iis of offence and defence •\ liieh money can procure." You liave rear! that during thy recent manoeuvres ill the North Sea (July, i'io«i '.i! of our submarines steamed from the Straits of Dover to the Firth I Forth, a distance of fiOO miles, witli■til going into port. I venture to say that, no other nation in the world has a lleot of submarines which could erpinl that, performance. If we are wise we -hall do our best—branches of Ihe Navy League and members of the •Navy League all over the Empire—to make certain thin no one shall come up to us in this matter. When the .Naval Estimates come <>u in March ; :ext I hope I shall be at Home. \Ve hall have a fight, ] know, on this •taval question, and all I can say is ihat I hope the Government will not ■•o swept olf their feet by the "little navy people, -who know little or nothing about the Empire, and thnt we ball get proper Estimates.—( Api lailse.) Wo want more Dreadnoughts, more cruisers, more torpedo-boat destroyers, and we shall want a few submarines thrown in. The lirst Peace Conference was held in IMOO. That ( onference was followed by twit of the biggest wars that have ever taken place "ii the planet—the Husso-.iapaiiese War and our own in South Africa. It was lollowcd by something else. Immediately alter the Conference was over Germany voted sixty-seven million rounds for the increase of her nnvv in .rder to make sure that she. should i'c- | main at peace with us and other people. I iho second Peace Conference is just | over, and Germany this year is spend- , ing three millions more on her navy ihau last year. She is spending soveiit"cn millions this year; and in 1911 will ho spending twenty-three millions. 1 -ay t his to you, and you can pass it on t■> your I fiends: wo cannot allow Iho '•nlanro of naval power to ho altered to <>ur disadvantage, and ihoveforo wo must Jake particular note of tho haft'e>iiip.s (iermanv is laving down. \Vo >-iy, "Lav them down, and wo will lay down two for your one." Peace C'oii- | l -Tehees in theory are excellent; in practice they aro useless, as it is impossible to limit the ambitious of nation*. NAVY AM) KMIMKE. Discussing the navy and the Empire, 'ho Karl <>£ Month says: 'A\ hatevor dillerenee of opinion may < i .\ist in regard to the necessity for tho British Kmpire ti> maintain land foreos adequate to tho protection of its extrusive land frontiers, no sano man who is acquainted with the conditions u hieh obtain in the political world of so-day can doubt that an empire divided like ours is by vast expanses of •i-eau ran alone maintain its existence i v retaining tho undisputed command !''l the sea—and yet so pro-occupied are I "'en and women in tho earning of their j hiilv broad and in tho promotion of iihoir own individual interests that thousands, probably millions, never give a thought to the question of national •'"fence and aro entirely ignorant of iho iactors which underlie the problem. "Herein lies the danger. If sea upiviiiacy be over lost to the Empire it will probably he due to tho ignorance fiid consequent indifleronee of tho mass el (he voters rather than to deliberate f"ilv 7 treachery, or naval incompetence, l! is tho duly, therefore, of every enlightened Jiriton— and the special dutv

of SIU-I) nil organisation ns the Navy League— tn bring it knowledge of tli'c lads which govern tlio ipicstion tu the democracies which now bear rule in tlio i uitcd Kingdom and in her selfgoverning sister State.',."