Good-bye New Zealand

NZ Truth, Issue 849, 25 February 1922, Page 1

Good-bye New Zealand

Sir John Saimond, ; ..New~ .^Zealand's representative at jthe Washington Conference, speaking' m London, said _hat under the naval? treaty the battleruiser New.Zealaria was doomed, and. .fter. remarking thett- New .Zealanders srould regard ner' iAnpendinig destruclon with regret, /he suggested that m would -be willing to have "our warhip offered as a sacrifice on the altar f peace. Sir JohrA suggested that the estruotion of the/New Zealand should c "publio and ecft-embrtial, not secretv, not silently, tut with the dignity ndyhorior aiid eleremonial observance pprppriate to so/ great arid significant n episode." Julst -.exactly what kind f spectacular "/sacrifice on the altar £ Peace" Salmojnd J.hafl m mind we o not know. 1 .Warships with' sentilental associat torts -have been scraped m the padt by taking them out ato the ocean, opening the sea cocks, nd leaving th em to founder, which iay suit the sentimentalists, vbut is iter all very bad, business. New Zealand's real ] rt sacriflce on the altar if Peace" has (been, paid m blood and reasure— at , lefast the blood has been naid, but the treasure, has been passed m to posterity. -We have sacrificed :he treasure ab lavishly that it takes the present generation'; all its time to foot the interest bill, let alone pay back the principal.' Battleships cost a dickens pf a ftrice to build, but they fetch a ridiculously low figure as junk — they're migjhty expensive' luxuries, whichever- wky one looks at them"Truth," however, desires , to put. a proposition "which will not only, please the sentimentalists, but will alsp ensure that this Dominion will continue to, get som«i measure of return for the huge sufn sunk m the "New Zealand," In the way of protection. Our proposal is /that the guns of the New Zealand should be taken out of her ,|nd utilises for coastal defence^purposes. The principal ports of this >..3orninion i'are at/ present "defended" by a series-* of "forts," niounting guns Of six-infth and eight-inch / calibre.. These piefces of ordnance are m most Instances ivery, very obsolete; m fact;' they're scared to. fire some of theiri'in case they go sky-high. The twelveinch rifles of, H.M.S. New Zealand, with theiir steel tin-rets, are at anyrate immeasurably more modern than the ancient weapons we now place our trusty m. They are twice as big. will carry twice as far, and, if they hit anything, will. cjo. at least twice as much("damage, and even after the war service they hive done we venture the (prediction that they are at least m) twice as-good condition as the earljy Victorian' pop-guns that are now thU deapair of. bur coastal deI fender'^f The time will corrie when the maiKei*' of modernising our forts must be faced. What 'better tbari to make a start. 'along the' lines we suggest? BeddosJ think of the saving!