EMPIRE’S SEA DEFENCES
It is high time that the country was fully informed of the state of its defences, says Admiral of the Fleet Earl Beatty in a letter to the Morning Post. Ignorance of tiie true facts means a false sense of security, and this is dangerous, since it leads to apathy and the needs of the services becoming the shuttlecock of party politics. Two years ago I warned the nation of the unsatisfactory state of the Empire’s sea defences. On that occasion I said that “for the purposes of making solid contributions to the directing of European affairs, from which we cannot divorce ourselves to-day, the navy is the handmaiden of our foreign policy,” The failure of our foreign policy is eloquent of the inadequacy of our navy. We are the only country that has carried out the policy of disarmament, and' that to an extent that makes us incapable of playing the part of a Great Power or of guaranteeing the safe passage of the sea to our ships.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 22831, 16 March 1936, Page 16
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172EMPIRE’S SEA DEFENCES Otago Daily Times, Issue 22831, 16 March 1936, Page 16
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