THE NAVY QUESTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15390, 27 August 1913, Page 10

THE NAVY QUESTION.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER.

POSITION STILL INDEFINITE.

Weixinwon, Tuesday. ; The Morning Post's opinions as cabled were brought under the notice of the Minister for Defence (Hon. J. Allen) to-day, and although he admitted that it was impossible to outline New Zealand's naval policy ho spoke in a manner that showed he had given the matter very careful thought. , The policy of 1909, he said, had been broken. He could not disclose the suggested policy of New Zealand, but the 1909 agreement had not been carried out from the point of view of the Mother Country. /It included the formation of three units as they were then called in the Pacific. These fleet units were defined clearly under the agreement and they were constituted with a particular object. One object was to give a fairly decent opportunity for a . career to the officers and men. These three fleet units were Australia, China, and the East Indies. The Australian unit was to be created by Australia and the Mother Country, the latter to contribute a quarter of a million for a certain number of years. Australia, however, decided to pay the £250,000 herself and relieve the Mother Country of this responsibility. The China unit and the East Indies units are now non-existent and as far as he knew there was no intention to create them. New Zealand, he added, had fulfilled her part of the bargain to build a battleship which was to form the flagship of the China unit., She had built it and paid for it and instead of that ship forming the flagship of the China unit the Mother Country had asked the Dominion to let the ship remain in British waters, and the request was granted without any hesitation. "That is the position to-day." said Mr. Allen. "What the position will, be in a few weeks' time I cannot tell you. "The only feasible thing that I can see," the Minister said in conclusion, "is either an alliance of the Dominions with the Mother Country, which I do not believe in, or a close co-operation, which means, as I have said in the Budget, for Imperial purposes, Imperial control."