MONEY FOR THE NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21482, 4 May 1933, Page 7

MONEY FOR THE NAVY

INCREASE OF £3,000,000 7 NEW CONSTRUCTION FIRST LORD OUTLINES POLICY" [I'llOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] LONDON, March 21 Sir B. Eyres-Monsell, First Lord of the Admiralty, in presenting the Navy Estimates to the House of Commons, announced an increase of £3,093,700. Of this amount no less than £2,355,360 was required in order to make normal progress in new* construction. In 1932 the Minister stated, they saved automatically about £2,000,000 by adopting the expedient of postponing the 1931 programme for nearly six months. A similar postponement this year of the 1932 programme would bo quite impossible. The House would see that from that fact alone, the increase was bound to be £2,000,000. That was not all. By postponing the 1931 programmo last year they pushed the highest point of the curve in the expenditure of that programme into this year. There was an increase in the Fleet Air Arm. As in 1932, they were taking no new air flights into the Fleet Air Arm, but two of the existing flights were in such a bad state that it was imperative to re-engine them with air-cooled engines. If that was not done it would not be safe to let pilots fly. The increase in the estimate for the Fleet -Air Arm was £64,000. The remaining £42,407 of the increase appeared under the gen- [ cral head of maintenance. ■ > Criticism ol Estimates

Since the estimates were presented there had been a certain criticism about an increase, and no doubt there would be a great deal more. Bub people who always denied the nation the right to an adequate national defence were precisely the same people who, internationally, were always calling for sanctions for blockades—and for wars to end wars. They always professed to be worshipping the goddess of peace, but, to his mind, their real deity was an ancient heathen god of wrath and vengeance. The country ought to realise, if these —he might call them bloodthirsty pacifists—ever got their way, which God forbid —what part the British Navy would be called on to play in any form of castigation they wished to inflict. The First Lord of the Admiralty of the day, standing at the Treasury box, would not be asking- for an increase of £3,000,000; lie would be asking for a sum that would well-nigh break the heart of the British taxpayer. lief erring to the reports some months ago that Dartmouth College' was to be- abolished, the First Lord said lie immediately took steps to contradict them, for he was convinced they would never get a sufficient number of cadets of the right calibre m any other way. The only criticism against the college which had any force in it was that directed against its cost. He had set to work to reduce that cost, and had succeeded in doing so to the extent of 20 per cent. He hoped and believed it had been done without any loss of efficiency. The chief reason for the high cost of Dartmouth was the necessity for a dual staff, naval and instructional. The principal economies had been made in cutting both. Improved Promotion Prospects

Last year, said the speaker, he had to give a very gloomy picture of tlio prospects of promotion for every one in the Navy. Now the situation had changed entirely for the good. The improvement was almost entirely due to the voluntary retirement of six admirals, who gave up willingly their hopes and chances when they saw what a very bad state things were in regarding promotion. He hoped they would « reap their reward for their unselfish action when they saw the results. The first result was that captains were now promoted to rear-admiral with 14 months' less seniority, and that, instead of forgoing a half-yearly batch of promotions from commander to captain, they had been increased by approximately 25 per cent. This was a great encouragement to junior officers. In all ships in the fleet greater attention was being given to seamanship training, and a greater opportunity was being given to petty officers and leading seamen to take charge. The examinations for petty officers, which used to be carried out in the candidates' own ship by their own officers, were now carried out by a squadron board. This alteration gave _a good deal more importance to the examinations, and ensured absolutely fair treatment,,, besides being a real test of the practical ability of a man. Sailing-ship for Training

The Minister said he had hoped to ask leave of the House to build a sail-ing-ship for training purposes. Ho was not doing so because, apart from the question of finance, he found that a large number of senior officers in the Navy were opposed to this, form of training. They advanced many practical objections to which ho could only oppose the arguments of a visionary. But the real point was that the reintroduction of sail training in the Navy, if it were to be a success, must be adopted with enthusiasm, and if it were not going to bo adopted with enthusiasm he was not going to have it at all. What he said 011 this subject last year raised great hopes among many officers, and ho knew of some who gave up their leave to go as hands in foreign sailingships simply out of keenness and to train for what they thought was coming. Concluding, the Minister said: —"I wanted thte sailing-ship, above all, as a symbol—a symbol of the fact that increased mechanisation must not blind us to the need of individual training. Even now, when my sailing-ship has turned out to bo a phantom and only a plan remains, I hope that the Navy will never forget that every country can turn out tanks, but that few can turn out a sailing-ship. And it is only because of this that for many centuries wo have taken the proud title of "Mistress of the Seas."

Captain Wallace, Civil Lord of tho Admiralty, said that the Board of Admiralty envisaged eventually having a properly-equipped and defended naval base at Singapore. Everybody who had studied the problem must realise that such a base was necessary, in order that the Fleet might have complete mobility in all parts of tho world. Not only was this view held by the Board of Admiralty, but by other members of the British Commonwealth also, as they had shown by a substantial contribution to the cost. Tho work was now progressing satisfactorily.