Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, SEPT. 18, 1933. NAVAL WEAKNESS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 249, 18 September 1933, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. MONDAY, SEPT. 18, 1933. NAVAL WEAKNESS.

Recexx cable messages have conveyed the information that in the very near future the British Government must give most earnest and serious thought to the strength of its Navy. The Admiralty, it was mentioned last month, intended to demand an emergency construction programme in cruisers and destroyers, and one of the best informed of naval correspondents, Mr Hector Bywater, states that the proposals will include provision for 25 new cruisers the equal of foreign craft, an annual quota of 15 to 18 destroyers to make up the present serious deficit in these units, a greater number of submarines, and a stronger Naval Air Force and personnel for the Fleet. These are said to be the “only alternative to Britain’s collapse as a great naval Power.” That statement undoubtedly reflects considered opinion in the Empire. Of all nations none has pared the way to naval disarmament like the Mother Country, but her example has failed to create a similar psychology in other countries. Such one-sided disarmament cannot continue while Japan and the United States, to mention but two Powers, are building up toward the limits allowed by the London Naval Treaty. America, as a great movement in part towards the absorption of unemployed labour and to stimulate recovery by spending on national works, has undertaken large _ extensions of its navy. Japan is not lagging behind—indeed, it has outpaced both Britain and the United States in establishing its fleet on the 1936. base, this being the year in which the London Naval Treaty expires. Japan, it may be mentioned,. enjoyed . a more favourable position to build without scrapping existing ships and its Treaty quotas are smaller. France and Italy refused to participate in the Treaty and though their building programmes have not been unduly heavy Italy, to secure parity with France, has been laying down cruisers on a substantial scale in the last two years

Britain’s part in naval disarmament is aptly illustrated by figures quoted in a recent address given by the First Lord of the Admiralty (Sir Bolton EyresMonsell). Since 1914, he said, Britain’s naval tonnage had been reduced by 47 per cent., but in the same period Italy had increased its tonnage by 20 per cent., the United States by 29 per cent., and Japan by 37 per cent. France could point to a small reduction of 10 per cent., but the French navy of 1914 included much tonnage which for practical purposes was obsolete. In recent years British naval construction has been cut to the bone, and three reasons have been given why increased building - may be anticipated. Next year’s programme will not be subject to the limitations of the London Treaty, the fourth and final instalment of. the replacement programme due for completion by December 31. 1936, under the terms of the Treaty having been authorised in the current Navy estimates; under the “escalutor clause” in the Treaty Britain may make proportionate increases in relation to new construction by any Power not concerned in the reductions therein, Italy 'and France being two such Powers; and finally the United States and Japan have big construction programmes. The latest British cruiser laid down in a public dockyard, the Amphion, was authorised in the 1931 programme, but the keel was not laid till June last. The Apollo was authorised in the 1932 programme, but the keel was not to be laid till last month. Eight destroy-

ers in the 1931 programme are being built under contract, but it was not till March last that the work commenced. Again, with submarines, only in June last was the keel laid of one authorised in 1931. Unless the arrears can be overtaken, a new programme authorised in 1934 must wait for some time before being put into execution, it has been said. Stated in another way, the position is that since 1928 Britain has built only six cruisers whereas, according to the First Lord of the Admiralty, the requirements to 1932 were twelve, or three a year, to “keep the Fleet on an even keel.” It is little wonder that the Admiralty urges a speeding-up programme and new building construction. It is the present weakness of the Navy more than anything else that exercises public opinion for, as stated at the British Commonwealth Delations Conference at Toronto, the nation’s safety only exists in a strong British Navy.