THE NAVAL ESTIMATES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 8 January 1914, Page 4

THE NAVAL ESTIMATES.

THE publicist who writes under the name of "Excubitor" (the Awakener) contributes an article to the "Fortnightly," in which he argues that Great< Britain is now assured of a substantial margin of naval Superiority as againstGernvany in the North Sea. "Britain."' he says, "has emerged from the dark days of 1909. Even if no additions are made to British programmes in the next four years Britain will have in the summer of 1920 55 ships of Dreadnought type to Germany's 35. And, in addition, Britain can count H.M.A.S. Australia, H.M.S. New Zealand, H.M.S. Malaya, and "the three Canadian vessels or their substitutes." This will give an advantage of 74 per cent over the German ships of similar class. But while ! Germany is thus held safe in the North Sea, there are still the ocean trade routes from North and South America, and from the Mediterranean and the Cape of G-ood Hope to be protected. This protection, "Excubitor" considers, will necessitate the raising of the forthcoming Naval Estimates to £50,000,000. Six capital ships should be laid down annually for the next four years in order to provide for the needs of the navy in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. Here is the author's .significant conclusion on this point "The British Empire is Asiatic rather than European, and in spite of the Japanese Alliance, and in spite of the friendship which unites us to the United States, we cannot ignore this fundamental character of Empire in the disposition of our naval forces."