Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 18, 1914. THE DOMINIONS AND THE SEA AFFAIR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13540, 18 November 1914, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 18, 1914. THE DOMINIONS AND THE SEA AFFAIR.

Whilst a few of New Zealand's minor politicians are disposed to cavil at the action taken by the Liberal Government m adding to the strength of the British Navy^ it must -be satisfactory to those wild 1 •'• were responsible, for that spontaneous offer' that their policy is* ap- ' proved and applauded-. in the highest quarters at ' Home. .There are few abler pens than that of Archibald Hurd, the well-known contributor oh 01 naval and military -strategy , to Enghsh reviews,' and m the latest issue of the -United Empire, the journal of the Royal Colonial Institute, . he furnishes an article which ,we - would earnestly commend to the attention of Sir Josepn Ward's carping critics. "Probably," writes -Mr Hurd, "few of the inhabitants of the Dominions realise to what an* -extent theyyand more .particuliarly the peoples of^-New" Zealand and Aus* tralia, contributed to ■ the maintenance 6f/our naval supremacy m the present war, by their spontaneous action at the , time of the naval crisis m 1909. No sooner had the Admiralty admitted that owing to German activity our sea power Was m danger than patriotic offers from, the, Dominions began to reach the ; Mother ' Country, . reminding the inhabitants of 'the British Isles— and the reminder was needed^ — of the vital impor:tance of the command of the seas .which . unite : >the : . dominions of the King into a vast Empire. First came tlie . offer from. New Zealand of one battleship, and, if necessary, ,two battleships "of; the latest type."" This 'message was followed by a 'telegram 'announcing that thp Governments- of New South Wales and Victoria had agreed' to contribute proportionately to the cost of a Dreadnought. Tt is hot necessary to recall the action which the Commonwealth Government! took. Two of the largest and swiftest armored ships were ' eventually built at the cost of , Now Zealand and' tho Commonwealth. The Tesult was that, although the Admiralty had to fight, and'to fight hard, for adequate provision for the Fleet^ more or less , adequate provision was, m fact, made. In 't the . three years, preceding the crisis only- eight (Dreadnoughts had been built for the British fle'eti while Germany had laid down nine and /was accelerating others; m the , five K years after tho dramatic events of 1909 29 imits were authorised for the British fleet, as compared with 17 for the German navy. Much, the 'same proportion was maintained m cruisers, 'destroyers and subi- • marines. It was the ships authorised m .these years, after the great uprising of the Dominions overseas 1 , which formed the; • spearhead -of. -the British Navy, when m defence of -the liberty of the world, -tlie -Imperial Government was obliged to pick, up the gage "which Germany had thrown down." Mr Hurd go£s onto point, out that the Admiralty, had urged, time and again, during peace that m the existing international and naval oonditions". the whole Empire would -have to be defended m the North' Sea, and that there tho fleets should be trained in' accordancb ' with principles laid dbwn ; in' the preamble to tho Gernjan/Navy Act -of l9oo.- The waropeiieii at .11 "p.m. on August 4, and the- first action occurred m the early morning of August 28.fi In this' engagement it was the* privilege of the people of New Zealand to; he represented by their giftship, which formed' part of the splendid force under Rear- Admiral Sir David Beatty. The First Lord of the • Admiralty once observed that "No greater insight into political and strategical points has', ever been shQwai by- a commuriily unversed m military matters than -was exhibited by New Zealand" when she gave this ship to. the Empire, and placed it unreservedly 1 at the disposal of tho Admiralty as a constituent unit of the Grand Fleet. In tlie daring exploit of August 28, when. -two German toruisers were sunk — another drifting away on; 'fire fore and^ aft and m a sinking condition— and. when two. German destroyers' were sent to the bottom and .. others, reduced' to impotence, tho First ■;liord of the Admiralty's estimate of the •service which "New Zealanders had rendered, the Empire proved to be a singu- , r larly ' accurate presentation of the fact. In this engagement, which will live m history by reason of its daring and its '•fortunate and fruitful" results, the people of this Dominion were rewarded for- all the sacrifices which their generous patriotism had. imposed upon them. '*It is impossible,"' adds the naval con- - tributor, "to repress the thought of what might have been the rapid course of. events m the war now m progress if each self-governing section of tho Empire had contributed to the maintenance of our naval power m anything like the •same proportion as the people of New ;Z-ealancl contributed under the leadership.of Sir Joseph Ward.' The population^ this, Dominions-men^ women, and children — amounts,, to ;only- just over ' ibne million. ; Without : waitihg for any suggestion from thb Country^ * these - disciples- of vt^ie/liighest Imperial • [patriotism contributed... to. the -qne navy

of the Empire a vessel costing nearly two millions sterling. Tribute has been paid to the influence which our kith and kin overseas generally did exercisn on British naval policy m 190 D and subsequent years, and there can, therefore, be no indelicacy m pointing out that if Dominion action had; gone further, and if other sections of the self-governing Dominions had acted m. the same spirit and with the same generosity as New Zealand, the Imperial naval forces would have been stronger by twelve or thirteen of the most powerfully armed; well armored and swiftest ships under any flag m the world. We should have realised', m fact, the ambition of the experienced sailors responsible for the safety of our maritime interests, and should have possessed an Imperial Squadron as an effective instrument for the defence of the free democracies of the world, for use m hunting down the German cruisei-s which have done so much injury to' British trade and shipping.*' Perhaps, after this strong expression of opinion from an acknoAvledged authority, some of those- who m the past have maligned Sir Joseph Ward and endeavored to make political capital out of the Dreadnought gift will be prepared to concede that m acting as he did at the psychological moment he showed a great measure of Imperial statesmanship, the effects of which have been of incalculable benefit m ensuring the security of the Motherland aiid- the safety of the Empire.