IMPORTANCE OF NAVY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 160, 8 June 1937, Page 2

IMPORTANCE OF NAVY

ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS. DOMINION’S OBLIGATIONS. Speaking at the weekly gathering of the Palmerston North Rotary C)ubCycsieid.ty' Captain J. R. Aiiddletou,D. 5.0., 11.iN., .now of poxton, dwelt on the position of the Royal Navy and its function in maintaining command of the seas, apart from the lighting of battles. He also touched on tlic contribution New Zealand is making toward, naval defence, giving his firm conviction that the Dominion should -undertake greater obligations. In the course of this section of his speech, Captain Middleton explained what would - lie tl.e War-tin)# function of the ships now in New Zealand waters. EXPENSIVE BUILDING. It was a curious thing >in regard to the Navy that the ,English people had never learned by experience,' the speaker averred. Folowmg eveiy war they had reduced their Navy, both m the number of ships and in the personnel. That reduced state of affairs ivas quite all right until somebody started a scare, and then there was a hurried building programme. Building a navy, constructing ships and rinding the personnel, in a rush, could be a most expensive business, if the British Navy had been built up some years a,jj it would have been done at far jess cost and, in addition, would have provided work lor many people. It was proposed w.qw to spend £1,500,000,UU0 so that England could hold her own against the world- When it was realised that we had scattered portions of the Euipiie not populated to their fullest extent, we couid not blame other nations lor thinking of seizing portions. The only vay the British Empire could look lor peace was to be strong ■' enough to hold what we have. It had to be remembered that two-thirds of the British Fleet was formed of ships chat were out of date and had not incorporated in them the lessons learned in the Great War. The Battle of Jutland had shown that the British ships had a weakness in design in that an explosion in one of the gun turrets could eventually lead to a the explosion of the magazine. The 1 Germans, lueikly for them, had dis- . covered that defect in naval vessel . design just a little previously. Now the big British ships were so divided into compartments that, on the latest information the speaker liad, lie ■ understood they could be hit by as many as seion turpedues and still carry on. FLEET'S AIAKE-UR. A fleet was very like an army in its make-up, tue speuntr proceeded, ruse came tne scouts, the aeroplanes, wiiu.se task was to uiaae observations and also prevent observations or attack. Alsu, the submarines were very much auaid of aeroplanes because the vessels could be seen waeii unuenvaxer by the aerupianes wuus tliev eoulu not be'getected by surface vessels. Following- tne aeroplanes came the destroyers, which could engage m light actions, but if the enemy proved too heavy lur tiiem they coulu lali Back on tlie light cruisers. They in turn, couid tali pack oh the heavy cruisers, and. il the latter tound the task too great the battlecruisers and battlesinps were biougut into action. Some people thought time battle-cruisers and battleships were nut woi til while on account of thengreat cost, Captain Middleton proceeded. The tact was that they were most necessary while other nations had them. The fleet must have the heavy snips to support the lighter vessels, and to maintain command of the sea the heavy ships were ne^essarj - . NAVY’S PROPER FUNCTION. The idea was held in some quarters, that the first tdilution of the Navy w'us to go out and to light, saJd the speaker. The proper function of the Navy was to secure, and keep, the command of the sea so that our own ships could use it while the enemy ships could not. If the Navy could do that without a battle, then so much the better; out it tnere had to be a battle then the enemy could be weakened and there would then not be the same amount of supervision needed. Alany had seen the work of the Dover Patrol, between France and Engl, ve. Men engaged m that had told the speaker that they had never seen tlie enemy except in tne form of aeroplanes, yet the Dover Patrol had been fulfilling tlie proper function of the Navy. Two cruisers', provided by the Admiralty with the men paid and provisioned bj’ New Zealand, were stationed in New Zealand waters, Captain Aliddlecon continued. On the outbreak of war they would both go to Singapore. Tlie only possibility .of attack, in force, was from Japan, and in order to reach either New Zealand or Australia a fleet from there would have to pass Singapore, perhaps not closely, but so that tins base would be to their rear. To carry out suck an attack a considerable force would be required, both in armed ships and - in transport and supply ships. Further, a constant stream of traffic would have to be maintained, for ships to carry supplies of food, munitions and possibly more troops. So, while a fleet was stationed at Singapore, it was very much out of the lines of possibility that a strong, attack could be made on either country. AYe might expect a sporadic raider, who would try to make us afraid and would lay mines about our harbours, but that was all. Those two cruisers being at Singapore would be protecting New Zealand and doing far better work than steaming round the coasts of the Dominion, where they could act be in all places at once. DOAIIXION’S CONTRIBUTION. ' Touching on the cost of the Navy and New Zealand’s contribution thereto, the speaker said that in England the contribution amounted to about £2 per head of population, but in New Zealand we spent only a third of £l. Yet our defence was just as important to us as-it was to England. The speaker maintained very strongly that New Zealand was cot pulling her weight in that regard. Vv'e had to be prepared to put our hands in our pockets and bear a greater part of the cost qf our defence by sea. On a comparison of-im-ports and exports it was very much worse than per head of population. At ! Home our politicians were talking oil th n se tilings now and tlib speaker hoped that when they came back they i bulcLrave 'een the light of reason. In his opinion New Zealand should main}kL, of- least four cruisers instead of the two, and we should also be'able Ito protect our own coast with aircraft. In that regard he was pleased to see that the position was improving and fv't. our air strength was being slowly built up. The thanks of the club were expressed to the speaker by Air R. Allison and a vote of thanks was passed. . The chair was occup’ed bv the president of the club. Mr G. G. Priest and Atessrs AV. Howell (Rnnrnai) and H. G. Ram (Palmerston North) were vvelcomI ed as visitors.