EMPIRE'S NAVAL POLICY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15174, 13 December 1912, Page 7

EMPIRE'S NAVAL POLICY

battleship ; new Zealand.

MUST BE COUNTED AS AN

" EXTRA."

MORE SHIPS " NEEDED.

By lelegraph Press Association.Copyright.

(Received Dezcember 13, 12.10 a.m.)

London, Dcccmber -12. The Times, in commenting on the naval situation, says that With the Australian and New Zealand Dreadnoughts the Admiralty programme in March, 1914, will be one ship below the 60 per cent, standard of superiority set down by Mr. Churchill. A sixth Dreadnought, says the Times, must be laid down in 1913 in place of the battleship New Zealand. The Dominions' ships must only be counted in the extra European standard.

It is dangerous, the Times declares, for Britain to depend on the distant Dominion, and.it is intolerable unless the battleship New Zealand is free to come and go as the Dominion desires.

The British yards, the paper adds, are capable of producing ten superDreadnoughts in 1913 if.the: Admiralty gives warning in time. . Mr. S. Perley. (the newly-appointed Minister for Defence) is likely to represent Canada on the Imperial Defence Committee.

AUSTRALIA'S DECISION.

FREQUENT CONFERENCES FAVOURED.

Melbourne, December 12.

In the Senate last night Senator Pearce (Minister for Defence) said that the Government had reached a definite conclusion regarding representation i" Australia on the Defence Committee. Thej favoured full conferences of representatives of the United Kingdom and the Dominions not less frequently than every two years, meeting in the Dominions whenever possible, with subsidiary conferences dealing with particular matters when necessary. The Government also favoured periodical visits of British Ministers to the Dominions.

Senator Pearce added that the Government was not corresponding with the British Government regarding representation on the lines of Canada or on other lines.