LORD-JELLICOE

Otago Witness, Issue 3415, 29 August 1919, Page 43

LORD-JELLICOE

ARRIVAL IN NEW ZEALAND. A HEARTY WELCOME. CIVIC RECEPTION .IN WELLINGTON. WELLINGTON, August 20. Glorious weather was experienced this morning for the arrival of H.M.S. New Zealand, which entered the heads at halfpast 7. The vessel was brought alongside Queen's wharf by the harbourmaster, and Lord Jellicoe landed Boon after 10, the shore batteries firing a saluto of 19 guns and the crowds giving Lord Jellicoe a great reception. Lord Jellicoe paid .an official visit to tho Governor-General, who returned tho call at 11 a.m., a salute of 19 guns being fired by the New Zealand. On the latter occasion official visits were also paid by the Commandant of the Forces, the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and the Mayor. _ Great enthusiasm prevailed during the march of 250 sailors to the Town Hall, and this was redoubled during Lord Jellicoe's progress to the same destination to the civio reception. The Town Hall was crowded on the occasion of tho civio reception to Lord Jellicoe and the officers of the New Zealand. Mr Massey, Sir Joseph Ward, apd all the other members of the Cabinet were present. Lord Jellicoe was received with tumultuous cheers, after a triumphal motor ride through the city. ,In welcoming the visitors, the Mayor (Mr Luke) emphasised the fact that Lord Jellicoe and the navy generally had made it possible for the gathering to take place. Cr Atkinson remarked amid cheers that the battle of Jutland did for the Kaiser what the battle of Trafalgar did for Napoleon Mr Masssy welcomed Lord Jellicoe on behalf of the people of Now Zealand, remarking that in all the naval engagements New Zealand was honourably represented. (Cheers.) Sir Joseph Ward said that Lord Jellicoe had acted at Jutland in the best interests of the Empire, irrespective of what the world might say. The vast majority would say that Lord Jellicoe did the right thing Sir Joseph added that no statesman in New Zealand had ever allowed the introduction of party politics into the naval policy of the dominion. ,On rising to speak, Lord Jellicoe was re ceived with a tremendous outburst of applause, and his reference to H.M.S. New. Zealand as "your ship" increased the volume of cheering. All were very proud to be on the ship, and to come here as representatives of tho navy; but none on board was more nroud than himself of flying his flag on that ship.—(Cheers.) The New Zealand took part in every action fought in the North Sea, and at the battle of Jutland fired 430 rounds with only one hit back. The reason was probably because she crushed the fire of the enemy (Cheers.) He had always appreciated the necessity of sea power for the Empire, while the record of the deeds of her soldiers in the recent war would last for ever.

A BUSINESS VISIT. DOMINION'S INTEREST IN THE NAVY. WELLINGTON, August 20. Speaking'at the civic reception to-day, Lord Jellicoe made it plain that, while he was not unappreciative of the hospitality which he knew to be so freely lavished upon them, the visit of the New Zealand was essentially a business visit. While lie did not seek to diminish the pleasure which the citizens of the dominion would be good enough to confer upon them all, at the same time, at the back of his mind, and at the back of the minds of his staff, would be the fact that there was work to be done here. Tho officers and men of the ship would be grateful for any hospitality shown to them, and he only asked that he and the members of his staff be left certain days to carry oiu\ the work which they had been sent here to undertake. He. did not forget that New Zealand was the first overseas portion of the British Empire which had a navy of iis own. Ho did not then refer to H.M.S. New Zealand, but to four little cargo steamers which had been fitted out and made bullet-proof by the Now Zealand Government in 1863* Then again, in 1909, New Zealand had led tho way with tho gift of H.M.S. New Zealand. —(Loud applause.) As New Zealand had had a great, long, and lasting connection with the Royal Ntivy from the days of Captain Cook to its first Lieutenant-governor and its second Governor, who were both naval men, they on H.M.S. New Zealand felt that in coming to New Zealand they were coming home.— (Applause.). They all had a deep appreciation of' the interest which New Zealand had always taken in naval matters, always appreciating the vital necessity for British sea supremacy. The men of the Royal Navy had had an intimate association with the heroes of the New Zealand army in the early days of Gallipoli, and in those days between the two branches of the service there had grown up a spirit of comradeship which would never die. Thus, again, he could say: —"In coming to New Zealand we are coming home; we are coming to- our comrades." —(Applause.) The men of the Royal Navy sympathised with those in the dominion who had lost their loved ones, but there >vere words which appealed to him as the very best which could be used under such circumstances, and they were: 'The glory does not die; the grief is past.' " —(Loud and prolonged applause.) The reception was concluded by singing the National Anthem and with cheers for Admiral Lord Jellicoe, his officers, and men. ENTERTAINED BY THE GOVERNMENT. NAVAL DEFENOE PROBLEM. WELLINGTON, August 21. Members of the Government entertained at luncheon at Bellamy's to-day Admiral Jellicoe and the officers of hid staff and of the ship's company of the New Zealand. In proposing tho toast of " The Navy," Mr jNlassey said Lord Jellicoe's visit was an indication that tho Imperial authorities recognised' the necessity of adequate naval protection in Australia and New Zealand. The subject of naval defence had for years been contemplated with intenso anxiety. He

agreed with the opinion expressed by many that from the point of view of the British Empire the Pacifio would bo the storm centre of the future. If wo failed to profit by the lessons of the war then we should deserve everything that might happen to us. The oitizens of New Zealand owed a deep debt of gratitude to the British Navy for the protection given during the years of the war. Our existence would always depend on naval supremacy. After referring to the gift of the battlecruiser New Zealand and the position of naval matters when the war broke out, Lord Jellicoe said he could well remember in the early days of unrestricted submarine campaigning by the Germans how Mr Massey nad drawn his attention to the loss of the fine New Zealand ship the Rotorua, and he had to assure Mr Massey, as he had to tell other people at the time, that he had not the destroyers to send to protect these vessels. The only thing that enabled the Admiralty to adopt the convoy system had been the assistance of the American navy in giving their whole destroyer forces. One lesson to be learned was to be prepared. He hoped the League of Nations would be able to reduce the chances of war, bu£ the British Navy was the only safeguard of Britain and the Umpire, and he noped it would not bo reduced. The burden had become too great for the Mother Country to shoulder by herself, and he felt that the mission on which he was at present engaged was of very real importance. Ho hoped it might be possible to produce a scheme which would be favourably considered by the great overseas dominions, and that as a result assistance would bo forthcoming from these dominions so that these dependencies would not have to depend entirely on the British Navy for security. He felt that the problem out here from the shores of Africa to the shores of America was one proL.i and all portions of the'British Empire within those boundaries were alike interested in the security of the sea communications. He hoped they would be ablo to devise a scheme which would not only affect the dominions, but also the Mother Country—a scheme which, if adopted, would bring more adequate security for the sea communications of Empire in these waters. CIVIC* LUNCHEON. • TRIBUTE TO THE MERCANTILE MARINE. • WELLINGTON, August 22. A civic luncheon was tendered to Viscount Jellicoe and the officers of the New Zealand to-day. The Mayor (Mr Luke) presided, and among the gueste were the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and members of the Cabinet. f In replying to the toast of his health Lord Jellicoe gave some interesting details concerning those who had been in command of H.M'.S. New Zealand from time to time. First, there was Sir Lionel Halsey, than whom there was no greater admirer of this country, including New Zealanders themselves. Sir Lionel Halsey was succeeded by Captain John Green, now rear-admiral, well known on the China station; while next came Captain, now Admiral, Richard Webb. Admiral Webb, the speaker reminded those E resent, was responsible for the orders which ad directed the merchant ships in the early -days of the war. Next in succession was Captain Donaldson, to .whom fell the lot of escorting to their final home the German High Seas Fleet on the occasion of their ignominious surrender—-a surrender from which it would never recover. Lord Jellicoe paid a tribute, to the mercantile marine for the great part it had played in tiie war. The men of the mercantile marine would go down to history in clouds of glory. There had been one officer from the mercantile marine from New Zealand who had been a shining example —Lieutenant-com-mander Sanders. That officer had been in command of a decoy ship, which, after only being in oonrmission for one week, was attacked by an enemy submarine. When the German captain of that submarine was taken to London after having: been defeated by Lieutenant-commander Sanders and his officers and crew of men from the mercantile marine he was interrogated by naval intelligence officers, and what they e;ot out of him was that he could net have believed that any navy in the world could produce men with such a spirit of discipline as to stand the shelling which he had given the Prize (Lieutenant-commander Sanders's ship) without making a sign of returning the fire until the submarine was so close that the latter was in a hopeless position. Incidentally Lord Jellicoe mentioned as an instance of the wonderful construction of the German submarine—the one dealt with by Lieutenant-commander Sanders —that although its conning tower and guns were blown away and the captain himself was under the impression that it had been sunk, it managed to reach home. PROBLEM OF NAVAL DEFENCE. WHAT THE EMPIRE NEEDS. WELLINGTON, August 26. Admiral Jellicoe was entertained at luncheon by the New Zealand" Club to-day. The Governor-general presided. In the course of his remarks, Lord Jellicoe said that one of the objects of his mission was to do what was possible to ensure co-opA-ation and homogeneity between the different forces of tlie Empire. New Zealand recognised the absolute dependence of the Empire on sea power, and ability to use the sea. It meant that they had to inculcate in the. youths the call of the sea, and to foster the mercantile marine, which played a very large part in the defence of the Empire in war. But for the mercantile marine the war would have been over about 1915, and he did not know what would have happened to New Zealand in that case. The navy was absolutely essential to the Empire. There was a tendency since peace was proclaimed to think that there was no hurry to he ready for the next war. History showed that one war bred another, and if we wanted to be at peace we must be prepared for war. He strongly urged his fellow-countrymen not to be penny wise and pound foolish because the cost of being ready for war was infinitesimal as compared with the cost of one month of war, and we should be ill-advised if wo listened to any suggestion that there was no occasion to be in a hurry to got our defences into proper order. The Pacifio was an ocean that was growing in importance every day, and it contained great possibilities of trouble. There were elements which might givo rise to future international complications, but statesmen would get more easily over those if they had a strong right arm behind them. They wanted striking forces, a trade protective force, and a force for the protection of harbours. He endeavoured to separate those forces in a report which he had presented to Australia.

Ever since 1902 they had been gradually weakening our naval forces abroad, with the result that when the crash came the forces out here were inadequate to protect British trade. The experience of the war had shown how difficult it was to hunt down even one enemy raider. The Emden, for instance, had many narrow escapes. Few people knew how narrow some ofthese escapes were. H.M.S. Hampshire passed within 10 miles of her in the early morning in a rain squall. The Moewe and Wolf were similar instances. The Tlifficulty of preventing tho escapo of raiders was greater than it ever was, and therefore the number of vessels required for tradeprotection was greater than ever before. They needed a great many more cruisers than they had before the war. They should base the number of cruisers, not on the number of German cruisers, but on our trade as" compared with German trade. There was only one system of protection of trade, and that was by convoy, and we had to see that we possessed a sufficient number of ships for the purpose. We could not do that without paying for it, and it would help the Mother Country if the dominions shouted aloud their intention that the British navy should not go down. As to militarism, he said the- British navy was a defensive i force, which had never been used aggressively. What was needed was co-operation between the dominions and the Mother Country, and he hoped the spirit displayed by the dominions would work for the of the grea.t inheritance which had been handed- dijwri by our forefathers. Finally, he thanked New Zealand for its gift years ago of the inscription on the wheel ,of the battleship: "Ake, ake; kia, kia." That was now in the museum, but he understood that it was to be again inscribed, and he could assure them that it would be as a signal call to all on board to do all that could be done for the glory of the Empire.