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Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 14199, 26 August 1919, Page 4

MAD RACE CONTINUES

Lord Jellicoe has arrived with the battleship New Zealand, and has been welcomed -with unparalleled enthusiasm. This is quite appropriate, because. the New Zealand is “our ship/' and because she has the marks of a war which she helped to win still fresh upon her. More than that, Sir Joseph Ward, whose strategical qualities have more than once been demonstrated, has placed his imprimatur upon Lord Jellicoc, and has thereby set at rest any doubt which may have existed in the minds of studious Now Zealanders who had been studying the criticisms of the Admiralty of the armchair! But that is not what we started to say. Lord Jellicoe has come with a He is planning a scheme under which New Zealand is to substantially increase her contribution to the Royal Navy. We observe that the New Zealand newspapers almost ecstatically endorse this idea. The dramatic and spectacular element in the visit of “our battleship” appeals to them as it was intended that it should do. In his speeches Lord Jellicoe makes no allusion to the League of Nations. His contention is that tho Navy should be strengthened, and he wants the young cubs to help the old lion to IJmar the burden. It is not for anyone to enquire if there is any limit to the strengthening or the burden. The politicians -will take their cue from tho populace, and whatever commitments are made will go through with three hearty cheers, and it is quite appropriate that such should be the case. • • * • And so we shall proceed to the forgetfulness of peace celebrations and prepare for the next great war! Japan is building more fighting ships, America is increasing her navy, France and Italy are, no doubt, building and building, and we cannot afford to stand still —the Navy League is emphatic on this point—and so we go on. Which all goes to show that the elemental human ia essentially pugnacious, that war has a greater appeal than peace, and that all this talk of leagues to prevent slaughter is a mere camouflage to all the primitive instincts which set, and 'has always set, man against man and nation against nation. If anybody pretends to disbelieve this, ict him look at China, the only really pacifist nation on the face of the globe, and think of the estimate in which that nation is held by all really right-thinking people.