NAVY LEAGUE PROPAGANDA

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 41

NAVY LEAGUE PROPAGANDA

CHAT WITH LIEUTENANT KNOX

Lieutenant H. T. C. Knox, organising lecturer of the Navy League, arrived in Dunedin by the first express from the north on Saturday. He was met at the station and welcomed by a number of Navy League members, and afterwards driven to the Fernhill Club, which be has made his headquartern during his brief stay in this city. He is a resolute-looking gentleman, still in the prime of life, and he gives one the impression of being endowed with much energy and no little organising ability. He proved a perfect mine of information regaiding navy matters in general, and the league in particular. A Times representative, during a short interview, learned from him much that was interesting and instructive.

Lieutenant Knox spoke most enthusiastically of the beauties and potentialitiee of New Zealand — and spoke, too, as one familiar with practically every portion of th= globe. But he did not dwell 1-cng on such matters : he wished to discuss Navy League matters. He said he, had been for 14 years connected with the organisation — 10 years as hon. secretary and four years as organising lecturer. He had spoken on some 600 platforms, and had lectured in at least 200 public and preparatory schools in the British Islands, and ho was firmly convinced that the educational work of the league was its most important function, an.l that it should be prosecuted with the utmost vigour. "I am he*e," he went on, " really as an invalid, having been ordered away to New Zealand by the doctors at a few days' notice. ,When I landed at Wellington on November 4 I was very much improved in health, and the climata of the Dominion practically put me right again. It was a matter for much gratification on ariving here to find letters and telegrams from almost every town of importance in the Dominion asking me to address meetings on the work of the league. As the representative of the league, I am very grateful to the Minister of Railways, who hac kindly granted me a free ticket over all the lines, and my thaniks are due also to the Union Steam Shijv Company for privileges of a similar kind." sTHE LEAGUE'S IMPORTANCE.

"It is vital to everyone in the Empire who realises upon what the whole fabricof the Empire depends that the two-power standard of naval strength should be maintamed, and that is essential if the Empire is to bs handed down from gene>ra.tion to generation. I am horrified to see from the cablegrams published last week that a considerable number of *' little navy " members of the British Parliament have been to the Prime Minister to persuade him to consent to still further reduce the expenditure on the British fleet. I am, however, happy to know that there people, whose knowledge of the question of sea power i 3 evidently very small, will be opposed by at least en equal number of Navy League members of Parliament. It was also a matter of great regret to me to read in the papers that it has been proposed, probably by the same cheese-paring politicians that I have referrec to, to reduce the speed of the 16 torpedo-boat destroyers of this year's programme from 35 to 27 knots per hour. If this has been proposed against the wishes of the Naval Officers' Board of the Admiralty, I can only hope that the British public will speak out in no uncertain voice."

WHAT GERMANY IS DOING.

"I have visited every port of any consequence from Emden, on t.he North Sea, to Danzig, at tho southern end of the Baltic, and I am absolutely convinced that the f'erman fleet is not being built up only for the defonoe of the German eeaborn© trade and the protection of the German coastline. One naval bill after another has been passed through tho Reichotag entirely owing to the enormous propaganda carried out through the whole of Germany by means of th© German Navy League (to which, in Germany, it is considered an honour to belong) with its 1,000,000 members and its income of £50,000 per year. The German League gives much attention to the education of the rising generation on naval questions, and it takes large numbers of school children from all over Germany to visit the great naval parts.

SOME FIGURES.

"That sea power is vital to us Js sufficiently clear from the fact that we have a seaborne trade amounting to £1,400,000,000 per annum. Our Empire consists of 12.000,000 eauare milee, containing a population of 400,000,000 people, and we have a coastline of 43.000 miles and a mercantile marine of 12.000,000 tons. The export trade of this Dominion is not Ices than £18.000,000 per annum, and, of necessity, has to be carried on acioss salt wat-er. We in the British Isles are importing food into the country at the rate of £400 worth every ininute by means of some 300 steamers every week.

" BRITISH " SAILORS

''The mercantile nnvino ir-, to my mind, unqu^tioPcibly our m< -t !e po~ eo-=-sion, becai-pe if it were attacked. a*> it certainly v.ould be attacked m the eveni of a na\al war, it i» not too much to tay f ! '"t. there i-> no home in th:? Bnti-h loirs which would not m«t?ntlv foel the Wow, and I think the sams mieht with truth ho said with regard to the Dominion and other parts of the Empire. In tli's mercantile marine wo are at ijresent employing not lees than 40 000 foreign sea'neiv, exclusive of lascar-, to whom we pay only 2,000,000 sovereigns per year a-= wa-cjes. >n order that they may ~"« ab!-° to ta l:<l :<- the bread from tihs mouth* of Br tis'n mc-n — thereby giving further proof of the facr that insanity is on the ir.oredi&e."

LECTURE AT OAIIART*.

(Fxom Oub Own Coni».Esrr.jiDE:rr ) OAMARU. Dccembe.- 6 Lieutenant Knox lectured at the Waitaki Boys' High School on Friday evening, when, in additcn to a full muster of the boys, a number of ladies and f>entl»men from Oamaru who are interested mi Ihe league were aioo prEssct. Lioi: tenant Knox spoke for nearly* two hour*, but in such an entertaining marner as to hod the attention of everyone without relaxation. His series of pictures i-s of such variety as might be -thought impossible with sue!: a subject, ard bis comments are devoid of wearisome cr technical detail, though conveying a large amount of infor-

mation. Lieutenant Knox journeyed on the Continent of Europe, and visited several of the largest ports and dock-building yards in Germany. The atmosphere became co warm at times, in his own language, that he was obliged to ieave for a time; but when he did 6o he found in his bag and his camera plans and photographs of exceptional interest. These were projected on to the screen, and furnished support of this contention that Britain's one safe policy is to lay down two Dreadnoughts for every one of Germany's. For the Peace Conference and for the British parliamentarians who desire a further reduction of the naval vote he has no sympathy. Lieutenant , Knox was listened to with evident interest, and recived a very hearty vote of thanks. .

BRITISH AND FOREIGN WARSHIPS.

ADDRESS BY LIEUTENANT KNOX.

A lecture on "The British Navy and Foreign Warships " by Lieutenant H. T. C. Knox, organising lecturer of the Navy League, attracted an enormous audience to the Garrison Hall on the 7th, and the proceedings were most interesting from start to finish. The attendance included some hundreds of school children. The lecture was given under the auspieos of the Otago Branch of the Navy Leagoie. Considerable interest was added to the address by the exhibition of a large number of lantern slides, the property of Lieutenant Knox, and further enjoyment was given by the presence - of the Garrison Band, which played at intervals.

Lieutenant-colonel J. Allen, M.P., who occupied the chair, said it gave him pleasure to introduce Lieutenant Knox to a Dunedin audience. — (Applause.) Lieut. Knox came to New Zealand not to lecture, but for his health, and New Zealand had been so good to him that he was despising his doctor." orders and lecturing, though be had been told not to do so. — (Applause.) He had pleasure in introducing Lieutenant Knox to a sympathetic audience. Lieutenant Knox, who is a fluent and pleasing speaker, with a powerful voice, said he would assume that his audience was already deeply interested in their " first line of defence," and it would be hi 3 object to send them away, if he could, still more deeply impressed than ever with the need of keeping a supreme fleet and of retaining the two-Power standard of naval strength. He wished, on behalf of his colleagues in London, to thank the Otago Branch of the Navy League, the Otago Ladies' Branch of the league, and the High School Branch of the league for their work of past years, and to ask the people generally to recognise that there was a great deal more work to do in the future. If the nation did its duty to the navy it would have no cause to fear that it would fail in its duty to the nation in the event of a disturbance with another Power. The object of the Navy League was to create an interest in the fleet, and to make it as widely known among their people as possible that the maintenance of a fullyequipped navy was absolutely as necessary to the British nation as the air one breathed. The whole fabric of the Empire was based on sea power, and th<& day Britain lost its sea-power it would lose the British Empire. Therefore, there were three things he would ask the people of Otago to do — to strengthen their branch of the Navy League, to place in the schools copies of the Navy League maps, and to g've prizes for essays on naval history. c would also ask them to do in Otago what the German Navy Lea?ue was doing with marked success in Germany — taking the children- from the schools to the ports to seei the men-of-war and the merchant vessels in order to impress upon them that sea-power was vital to Germany. He spoke- against the action of 75 members of the House o£ Ccmaions who apparently did not recognise that they belonged to a maritime nation, and who did not know that the strength of the Empire depended on its sea-power. There were at least 150 members of Parliament who would oppose these " little " people when they stood up in the House, as they were doing now, asking for a small fleet. He was sorry to see in the telegrams in the New Zealand papers last week that the speed of 16 of the British torpedo-boat destroyers in this yeaVs programme was to be reduced from 33 knots to 27 knots an hour. If that proposal had been made by the 75 members and against the wishes of the naval officers on the Board of the Admiralty he hoped the British public, whether in New Zealand or at Home, would speak out in no uncertain voice, and say that they did not wish the speed of those vessels to be reduced in order that a comparatively paltry £20,000 might be saved on each boat.— (Applause.) The lecture proper ended at this stage^ and from this point to the close of his remarks Lieutenant Knox discoursed in a most interesting manner upon a large number of limelight views appropriate to his address. As a preliminary ' there were pictures of Lord Nelson and Lord Roberts, illustrative of the way in which the army and the navy had stood shoulder to shoulder in winning- and defending the Emoire, and then followed pictures of Nelson's famous sicnal and the beautifullv-decoraicrl Nelson column on the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. The Navy League man was also shown ; also views of various classes of battleships.

During tho interval thp Garrison Band played " The death of Nelson," and when the lecture was resumed th? first slide -hov^<l these significant sentences- — "Briii'h seamen for British «»hips. There aro 40. C00 foreign seamen in th*> mercantile marine, to whom we pay £2.000. 0C0 annually in v.asrc*." So Ionq; as thar condition of things was tolerated, said Lieutenant Knox, it voulrl bo a proof that in-anity was on the increase. The Navy Loai>ue \va> doinsr mu.'-h io remove =urh a diseiaceful itate of thintjs. Tlir> lec-iurer went en to '-how, by moan« of a nunih->>- of capital illustration-. Ui" nature of th" work un-^ortak-'n in training boys for the Tiavv. Rome forr»ij>n warships vrorp also «hown. as woll as phonographs of German strategic po=ition-, whi<h sraie thp lecturer an opportunity to emphasise Loiv 1 Robrts's warning thar Germany has ehirs sufficient io carry 200,000 men into tno Noith fira. Coneluchnor. Tjionfonant Kiiox -sai'J • "I a>k jou in th« hail who ar? not aL'oaflv mri/ibcr-. of ths Otasro Loaprvp to lose no t'uno in joinine your O'.vp branch anrl holpirg forward our work. My !a-t -,vrv;vl to yon will V" : Keep rhp oonrrp~nrf of th<> sea a- you value national lif*\ With it voti can do evfii-vrhinsf. Without it you will b* spor'-lv bio* ted out of the list of nation- " — (Anplau- 11 .)

Tb? Hon J. T. Paul mo^-d— " That this p-i^ptini "Miro^i it« thailr= fo Liputen-anfc H. T C Knox fcr h-e hiirhlv instructive and intr>rpstinj!r krlur? and welcomes th-° British Primp Minister's assurance r.hafc it l« the intention of his Majesty's Government u> maintain the two-Power standard

of naval strength, but expresses concern at the^proposed reduction in the speed of 16 torpedo-boat destroyers from 33 to 27 knots."

Colonel Stoneham, officer commanding the First Battalion, 0.R.V., seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation.

On the call of Lieutenant-colonel Allen, three hearty cheers were given for flag and Empire.

Lieutenant Knox expressed his appreciation of the unanimity and heartiness of the meeting, and the gathering dispersed after the playing by the band of the National Anthem, in which the audience joined.

The acting-secretary (Mr T. E. Roberts! had made excellent arrangements for the meeting, and the hall was tastefully and appropriately decorated. Nelson's famous signal was displa3"ed in flags around the balcony. The lantern was capitaily worked, with the result that all the views were distinctly thrown upon the screen.