THE ROUTE TO THE EAST.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8410, 9 January 1899, Page 4

THE ROUTE TO THE EAST.

AN IMPORTANT OUTCOME OF THE LATE WAR SCARE. Mr W. H. Lucy, the well-known London journalist, whose letters to the Sydney Morning Herald are usually based on the best information, sends the following important item : — I heard from a high authority that one important and permanent result of the revision of Imperial navy tactics, following on the autumn prospect of war with France, is the selection of the Cape as the approach to the East in time of trouble. This is, of course, only a return to the older state of things precedent to the construction of the Suez Canal. Disraeli's famous coup in purchasing the controlling power over the Canal was political rather than financial. Like some other of the eminent statesman's devices the result has been exactly contrary to the design. The Suez Canal shares have turned out & splendid money investment, but politically the ownership of the Canal is tv matter, of no importance. Whatever nation may have tho. control of the waterway, its disposition at a critical moment is in the hands of the captain of any chance passenger boat. Any innocent-looking, but cun-ningly-selected steamer might at the proper moment get itself sunk athwart the Canal and indefinitely delay traffio. Lesß simple operations on the part of a hostile naval power would make the Canal a risky passage. The waterway by the Cape is subject to none of these contingencies. By such a fleet as England commands it could be kept open against any combination. What seemed in the autumn a possibility of war with France, with contingencies affecting India, brought the naval authorities into close contact with the problem. It was finally decided that in case of war the best policy was to close the Suez Canal, and make the only pathway to India over the high seas by the Cape. A result of this important decision that will presently become apparent will be the aggrandisment of Capetown. At present Malta serves as the depot for Indian reliefs. The system will not be abandoned, but a scheme has been worked out, perfect in all its details, whereby at tho earliest sign of trouble Capetown will in this respect take the place of Malta. This new and important departure in Imperial policy has been hastened by consideration of the irresistible growth of Russian ambition. Russia, naving got an outlet in the Far East by Port Arthur, will more persistently than over scheme to find an opening into the Mediterranean. With England bound to the Suez Canal as the route to India that would be a serious matter. With England in a position to shut up the Suez Canal, thus making the Cape the only route, Ru9sia in the Mediterranean would be of no particular account.