NOT BEATEN YET.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13092, 4 June 1913, Page 2

NOT BEATEN YET.

The lugubrious stories ihat^ffom time to time are published ftj^ouf'the decadence of Britain" and 'her .uhpreparedness for M r ar areroften , manufactured' merely for .Home Consumption, to satisfy • sojno political whim, or exigency of' the mom-; ent. It is reassuring sometimes, to, get the other side of the picture, and. we are indebted to .a, wrjter m. the hast issue of the Quarterly. Review for a more cheerful view of Britain's naval situation. ' Every new invention, according to the waiter of . VThe Battleship and its Satellites" has "conferred the greatest benefits upon "the strongest naval Power.-". By wireless telegraphy London can talk to Alexandria; bottt by <lay and by night m absbliitesecrecy. ' ThY patrol is h^Cipjrfedtt^foV hydroplanes can see 50 o* 06 miles "<3Xt a clear day. The new development of' the torpedo, which has now a rtoge of 12,000 y^rds.. "has ■ for ever laid the spectro of invasion." ...The* writer advocates guns rather, than armor, on the gfOund that the best defence- is to 'destroy tine gun-power- of " : the -..> „<>nemy. Strangely enough he steaicUly ■ ..;^ igijorbs' air power, as. if the navj^' ha^ nothing to do with it. He explains that ; at «tlir present time Britain, h.as'l; 24 Dread} noughts, against 21 • tot < the -rest' of. Europe, but m the spring yof 1915 she will\have only 33 to Germany's 25, and eight of the 33 will be stationed at C raltm;/ ■ tjwee . and^ a-lialf days' «jteaming from 'England. $iill. he.-) a r g u ? s .that there- is ho' occasion*- for; alarm at the decreasing »disprpportiori; Jt 'appears that Brit Sain possesses: m the long-raiige borpedo to be fired from, battleships : a'" weapon that O-ermrthy has not got. the reviewer, counts on, it to give the.

supremacy to Britain if-h'er margin m I cannot do so, which is not per- 1 ( haps so comfortable a situation as many would like. The view is expressed that the destroyer is about ~to be displaced : by the small high-powered cruiser, and that the submarine will not be a match for the hydroplane. succeeds '. invention, and so far Britain has cer- .: tainly the thick end of the stick -witn the latest weapons of war. SoMong- as she keeps m the forefront of modern invention, whether for peace Pr'.^wa-f, there is little reason tQ fear that the Old Country will become played out.