WHOSE POLICY IS IT ?

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8559, 23 October 1913, Page 6

WHOSE POLICY IS IT ?

Surely that was an extraordinary admission that was made by the Hon. W. F. Massey, in replying to Sir Joseph AVard, when he said the naval policy of the Government would bo disclosed as soon as ho had time to prepare the report. But why should this report he prepared by the Hon. AA r . F. Massey ? He is not the Minister tor Defence. It was not Mr Massoy who was sent to London to consult with the Admiralty. It was not Mr Massey who talked volubly and indiscreetly in England and Canada concerning the naval intentions of this Dominion, and who was supposed to have returned triumphantly with a policy in his pocket that was certain to set a patriotic example to the Empire, and excite the admiration of every New Zealander. The Hon. Colonel Allen was the gentleman in the limelight a few mouths ago, who did all these distinguished things, but, singularly enough, the Hon. Colonel Allen is being thrust ignominiously into the background just now. This is surely calculated to make the Hon. Colonel Allen look supremely ridiculous. AVe have it on the authority of the independent evening journal, to which the Hon. Colonel Allen is understood to have gone for sympathy in bis moment of chagrined disappointment, that the Minister for Defence has actually submitted his naval policy to the Cabinet for its consideration. If this is so, why is the Government not loyal to its colleague, who journeyed to England and met the Admiralty, and upon whose shoulders necessarily rests the responsibility of this policy ? If the Hon. AV. F. Massey persists in his intention to write the report “when he has time,” notwithstanding the fact that he has never met the Admiralty and is ignoring the colleague who has, the inevitable’ consequence will be that the Hon. Colonel Allen will bo humiliated in the eyes of the people of New Zealand. But possibly the Hon. Colonel Allen does not mind this so long as he is allowed to remain in power. It might, however, bo arranged to lessen the weight of his humiliation. AVhy not, in squatter parlance, temper the wind to the shorn lamb? It is conceded that the Hon. AV. F. Massey knows nothing of military or naval matters. If he is not prepared to accept the scheme of the Hon. Colonel Allen, who is venerated at Bruce as something of a pocket Napoleon and Nelson rolled into one. why persist in drafting military proposals that he cannot be expected to properly appreciate or fully understand? If the Hon. Colonel Allen must be suppressed, from motives of expediency, surely it would be better to entrust the construction of this naval policy to the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, who can be depended upon to evolve something fearful and wonderful, and certainly original? Or, better still, why not call in the aid of the Hon. Dr Pomare? His brain has enjoyed a rest lately. It ought to he equal to the demands of this sudden emergency. But a naval policy from the Hon. AY. F. Massey is too absurd for serious consideration.