THE NAVY AND THE EMPIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10126, 8 May 1896, Page 3

THE NAVY AND THE EMPIRE.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—Any doubt which may have existed as to the need of some permanent body to keep the nation in mind of its dependence upon the sea should surely be <iispelled by the receut speech of the Commander-in-Chief at the Royal United Service Institution. The slightest study of statistics will show that we are not self-dependent, and will make it clear that we must for our security in war have, not a fleet which is barely equal to the forces of a possible hostile combination, but one which is superior. And why is this? Because we import four-fifths of our corn supply and about three-fifths of our meat supply. The corn in the country, so far as can be gathered from the Board of Trade reports, frequently falls below a three months' supply. Because, as Lord G. Hamilton has staled, we import 25 per cent, of our iron, (K per cent, of our wool, 90 per cent, of our ilax, 83 per ceut. of our leather, 75 per cent, of our wood, all our cotton, silk, and hemp. Because we can be crushed by the economic conditions of neutral competition if hostile cruisers unchecked are allowed to prey upon our commerce. The loss of naval supremacy to-day would send up insurance rates to fancy figures, and with '2,000,000 souls always ou the verge of starvation even in peace, how are the masses whose sole source of income is derived from seaborne commerce to be kept alive ? It is to the teaching of history that the Navy League appeals. Now, as always, the measure of our strength is the potency of the national navy. Now, as always, the navy can, if we choose, guarantee the security of Great Britain. Now, as always, our military forces can he brought into play only on condition that our sea communications are effectively guarded. But now, as was not the case in the days of Elizabeth and of Cromwell, there is an empire to be linked together and held against all-comers by the sea alone.—lam, etc., H. .Seymour Trowkk. Chairman Executive Committee Navy League. 13, Victoria-street, London, 8. W.