NAVAL SUPREMACY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15500, 6 January 1914, Page 7

NAVAL SUPREMACY.

CHANCELLOR'S UTTERANCE. GREAT INTEREST ROUSED. PARTY PRESS COMMENT. RADICAL-SOCIALIST PARTY. FORGE TO COMBAT PERIL. By Telem-ach—Press Association—Copyright. 'Received January 6. 12.15 a.m.) London, Janu?ry 5. In a letter {» the press, Mr. L. Chiozza Mo'nv -.iJKcif.l Mr. for East Northampton hire, and a wellknown writer, on social and political questions) regrets the advice given by the recent deputation of Liberal M.P.'s, headed by Lord Brunner, who asked the Premier (Mr. Asquith) that there should be no further increase in the Navy Estimates. Such a course, says Mr. Money, would in a few years give Germany the naval supremacy. Mr. Chiozza Money, in another letter to the Chronicle to-day, says it is impossible to maintain a ''■errs na . unlest thy Estimates ii. increa&ed If these are not increased, then contracts must be cancelled, thus trenching on the margin of superiority. He "nphasises that Germany's navy i- 'ndependent of estimates, md that is an important law establishing the maintenance in perpetuity of a navy enormously bigger than Britain's'. "The Cabinet United," The Daily Chronicle dec! s that the Cabinet is united on the question of armaments, and i" mces Mr. Churchill's speech in the douse )f Commons on . March 29, and at Alexandra Park on November 15, and also Mr. Asquith's Guildhall and Leeds addresses.

Mr. Lloyd George, though strongly convinced of the value of improved relations with Germany, did not suggest, adds the Chronicle, that there is any doubt of the continued efficacy and importance of the Triple Entente. Statement Very Guarded. The Observer (Unionist), in the course of an article, questions whether Mr. Lloyd George's utterances mean all his excited friends imagine. "The Chancellor's statement," says the paper, "will, when examined, be found to be guarded, despite its extreme imprudence. It appears to be a ruse to keep the forces of Radicalism and Labour together in view of the next elections. The really interesting part of the. declarations of the Chancellor lies in the fact that if Mr. Lloyd George is definitely to lead the Radical-Socialist combination with a policy destructive of the sea power of the Empire, then there will need to be a new National party to combat the peril." LIGHTENING THE BURDEN. CONTINENTAL OPINION. Times-Sydney Bun Special Cable. Paris, January 4. The French papers bluntly state that France does not share Mr. Lloyd George's satisfaction regarding armaments, because Germany's increasing army expenditure has since forced wholly unexpected outlays upon the Republic.

SNEERS OF GERMANY. RIDICULE FROM PRESS. (Received January 5, 10.15 pan.) Berlin, January 5. The German papers ridicule the proposals for disarmament. A correspondent states that there is no real objection in Germany to any British naval policy that Great Britain may adopt. German naval expansion is due just as much to the utterances suggesting that Britain is wavering as the speeches explaining that Britain is compelled to increase her defences by German aggressiveness. Count von Reventlow, writing in the Deutsche Tages Zeitung, declares that Mr. Lloyd George's language only increases the German mistrust. He especially resents his description of armaments against which the industrial classes of Western Europe have revolted as organised insanity.

ITALIAN INTERPRETATION. NO PROMISE OF REDUCTION. (Received January 5, 10.55 p.m.) Rome, January 5. Some of the leading organs consider that since,the British Cabinet is united to abandon any increase in the naval Estimates, Mr. Lloyd George will be forced to resign, especially as Mr. Churchill is always able and ready for either opposition or support. Other newspapers interpret that this conversation does not promise any reduction, but a warning that it will be impossible to exceed the present limits except at the risk of overturning the national edifice. AERIAL WARSHIPS. BRITAIN TO SPEND £2,000,000. London, December 30. The Daily Citizen claims that there are substantial grounds for the statement that the Naval Estimates have been swollen by more than £2,000,000 in order to provide for an airship fleet of eight or tea dirigibles. The current year's expenditure on aviation was £1,000,000, as against £350,000 last year.