THE NAVY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20708, 4 May 1929, Page 8

THE NAVY.

ESTIMATES DOWN BY £1 .'435.000. THE SINGAPORE ' BASE. (From Oue Own Correspondent.),LONDON, -March. 14. ■' The publication,of the Navy Estimates completes the disclosure of the ordinary, expenditure to Be met in the Budget next month. The total is about £740,500,000, to which has to _be added the cost of the selfsupporting services, making a Budget; aggregate of,'roughly, £821,500,000/.' The Navy Estimates for 1929 is , £55,865,000, a reduction of £1,435,000" below'the estimates for ; 1928, '' ' ■ ‘ Tina considerable seduction has been made, declares Mr W. C. Bridgeman, First Lord of the Admiralty, in his explanatory statement, “ although no dimuniEJr 11 1 •’ ®t-, of the fleet and the i/lpct Air Arm has taken place.. ,On the contrary,, modern developments have shown the necessity for two additional' flights for the latter.” Economies in naval personnel have reduced the numbers borne during the’curl' ent year by over 1000 below the 'figure for 1928 mentioned last year. Oh April 1 -i} 6 ?* t be „strength of the Royal Navy t VI I 9 9.800, but that total is expecteu to fall by another 1000 during 1929, making a reduction of 3000 in all from the numbers borne on ApriM, 1928. ; i ■Furthermore, “in view of the urgdnt necessity for economy, certain changes have-been effected in the peace organisation and staffing of the Navah Staff Divisions at'the Admiralty.” CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMME, the 1925 programme the amount Pv? posed be voted for new construction toTiMV 8 ; 621 - 6 ? 6 - £1 ’ 088 ' 231 ma ' n: reasomfor this smaller; provision, says the First Lord, •«is, of course, the cancellation of /the three and ISe i92B fr ° m P ro ? ram mes of 1927 and 1928, as the result of which- onlv 1 seven cruisers building will be at the nst 1 Vn ’“IP payments in 1929, 12 in 1927.”° “* th ° W - vious >’ ear and coStaS7t S?fofc « 1 flotilla .leader? BBoms. .hki. d ,h^d c t. 0 g£ ssscsftte the° U 192 ° riOUS ’ Th “. two cruisers of the in 2 nnn P f Kr^ mme « whlch will be of The provision for the Fleet Air Arm■ is .increased by : £220,000, principally in’ order to meet the cost of a. further instal-’ ment of aircraft (two flights) for the WOnous. This vessel .will complete-her reconstruction as an aircraft carrier and be commissioned during 1929, but "under the modest programme which'we are following she will not have hter full: equipment of aircraft until 1930. '• ■ .SINGAPORE BASE, ' . / A small increase is shown in the-vote .<mi or - Singapore naval base. . This work, said -Mr ' Bridgeman,- “ has in the past made only a small demand on : navy votes, in consequence of the generous contributions of New Zealand the ‘Federated Malay Slates, and Hongkong. But m .1929 the expenditure will exceed the naval share, of the contribu--.n!s?A2iv-? course of paymentJjy over' 1 £200,000. W that the. preliminary work: . the site has , been completed and/the matin engineering contract has ■been placed, the cost to navy votes must largely increase during the next few years, .unless, of: course, additional contributions from, the., Empire should be forthcoming. ~ , , “The advancement of the new construc-tion-programme and of the Singapore nayal baseband the gradual expansion of the Fleet Air Arm', have' been since 1925 the main developments which we - have, kept in view. In the meantime our policy has been-to effect economies wherever possible in- maintenance, charges of the’ navy in- order to offset tb’e expenditure on. these three main-objects,*.. In- doing, sowe have, as I pointed out in my statement last year, been greatly assisted by the absence, of any disturbing feature in the general naval position, and have, therefore,/felt justified in deferring or spreading over a long period the, fulfilnlent of many important naval requirements. The Navy Estimates for 1929 have been framed in strict conformity with the policy.” . ■ One hundred and twenty-one naval and Royal , Marine officers have been trained as pilots, and 12 more are under training; Officers employed as observers' number .74,