THE NAVY LEAGUE

Southland Times, Issue 14371, 18 March 1910, Page 2

THE NAVY LEAGUE

(Published by arrangement.) Renewed efforts are being made by the officials of the Navy League to keep up public interest in the fleets of the Empire. It is felt that the surest way of securing adequate upkeep for the existing ships, and adequate additions also of up-to-date vessels of each class to maintain the naval strength at .the required standard. Is to arouse citizens to a sense of the vital importance of possessing such sea power as will safeguard every trade route and ensure each part of the Empire from hostile encroachment. The Navy League is not a political organisation. Among its members are to be found every shade of party opinion. It is political in one respect only ; it urges upon the Government of the day, be it Liberal or Conservative, the pressing need of maintaining the navy at full efficiency. The League thus strives to strengthenYMinisters’ hands in arranging for the necessary expenditure. Immense sums are involved, which, though regarded by a section of the nation as merely enormous waste, are practically payments by way of insurance for the protection of the Empire’s vast interests. The time may come when fleets and armies shall be dispensed with ; but that time is not yet ; and meanwhile the expenditure must go on, or national safety be endangered. Dreadnoughts, battleships, cruisers, torpedo boats, submarines, and fleet auxiliaries must' bo kept manned and equipped, even though the great bulk of them (or none of them) may never see actual warfare. It is one of the ironies of modern naval construction that ships may be launched and brave the wind and wave till ready for the scrap heap, yet never experience the brunt of battle ; and that men may spend their lives in preparation for a struggle destined not to take place during their time of active service. The last occasion on which British ships were in action was the bombardment of Alexandrian forts in ISS2. The vessels that took part in that attack have long been laid aside as out-of-date and had their places taken by others of newer design and these again have been superseded by still better types and been relegated to the section available only for subsidiary purposes. The Nile and the Trafalgar were regarded twenty years ago as splendid specimens of naval architecture. So also, immediately following them, were the Royal Sovereign, the Empress of India, the Hood, the Resolution, the Ramillies, the Revenge, the Repulse, the Centurion, the Barfleur, and the Renown, the last mentioned completed only fourteen years ago ; yet not one of these but is looked upon now as of questionable fighting value. Useful, indeed, they are for certain peaceful purposes such as coast surveying and deep sea soundings ; but for work of that kind vessels at a tenth of the cost and not much more, probably, than a tenth of the maintenance, would amply meet requirements. One notes that during the past fifteen years the' Navy Department has had constructed over forty great battleships, including seven of the Dreadnought type, nearly the same number of armoured cruisers, over fifty protected cruisers, a century of destroyers, some sixty torpedo boats, and about an equal number of submarines. The question, “ What will become of this vast armament. ?” must fill the thoughtful mind with serious apprehension. Will they be tested in conflict with the ships of "some rival nation ; or will they, like their predecessors, run a peaceful course till grown in their turn oldfashioned, and fit only for auxiliary uses ? What a travesty on our boasted civilisation that such enormous waste should bs necessitated 1 Apparently, too, the waste will go on till the hxpendilure entailed has become unbearable. and the nations will be compelled to cry halt and seek some international arrangement that shall obviate the incessant preparation of vast armaments. Meanwhile, however. It helioses e\erjintelligent citizen to keep himself informed of what is being done by the Admiralty of his country in equipping and strengthening its navy ; and to the Briton such matter is of more vital importance than it is to the citizen of any other nation, since no people have so much at stake as those who live under the Union Jack. Yet how few comparatively are concerned to note what new vessels are launched or what then equipment. Last year saw tho completion of the Temeraire and the Superb, monsters of over 18,000 tons displacement. and also of the St Vincent, a more gigantic structure still of over 19 000 tons : while this year two more arc to bo completed of the same vast magnitude the Collingwood and the Vanguard. It is premature, perhaps, to speculate, on the date when the Dreadnought for which New Zealand lias become responsible will take the water ; or to inquire whether, when she is completed, taxpayers will have an opportunity of seeing the leviathan in Dominion harbours. The inspection of it would bo some small compensation for the £2 Per head that it means to every man, woman, and child ; and might inspire young Maorilandors in greater numbers to contemplate favourably tho “ life on the ocean wave.