NAVAL CONTRIBUTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18158, 2 August 1922, Page 6

NAVAL CONTRIBUTION.

The Navy League's resolution on the question of New Zealand's naval contribution is a timely reminder that the Dominion has made no attempt to discharge a moral obligation. The recenft appeal of Lord Lee, First Lord of the Admiralty, lias fallen on deaf ears. He stated that at the last Imperial Conference the Dominions agreed that the maintenance of the Navy was the common concern of the Empire and that, therefore, the burden should bo shared in proportions which should be settled after the Washington Conference. So far, he added, the Dominions had not assisted Britain to bear the crushing burden. Britain was staggering along, hoping that the Dominions would open their hearts anil pocketfi before it was too late. The grave reproach rests upon all the Dominions that nothing has been done toward paying a debt of honour. Take our own case. New Zealand is a sea-girt Dominion, set in the Pacific, which is now regarded as the most probable stormcentre of the world. Depending for its existence upon the safety of the seas, New Zealand has been complacently accepting protection paid for mainly by the British taxpayer. The Britibh contribution has been 30s per capita and that of New Zealand ss. After the Washington Conference the total cost was known, but the Admiralty left it to the Dominions to take the initiative in the direction of fixing the quotas. Mr. Massey's idea, expressed recently, is that the allocation should be determined at the next Imperial Conference.

Finality must be reached, and reached quickly, if the Dominion's claim to the new national status is to be something more than empty boasting, and tho Navy League' is doing a public service in bo sharply directing attention to the matter. Even if the settlement as affecting all the Dominions is to be deferred until the next Imperial Conference, it is time the responsibility was realised and acknowledged. Certain it is that Great Britain cannot permanently carry the burden»alone.