The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLES. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1913. NEW ZEALAND’S GIFT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 34, 8 February 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLES. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1913. NEW ZEALAND’S GIFT.

It is nearly four years since Sir Joseph Ward sent his message to England, offering a Dreadnought as a gift from New Zealand to the British Navy. This action undoubtedly became the inspiring force which led Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the Malay States to make similar offers, offers which have done much to convince other Powers of the solidarity of the Empire. On February 3rd of this year New Zealand’s gift to the Motherland was inspected by King George and the occasion was one of great jubilation. On Thursday this great shiii sailed on her fourteen-thousand-mile voyage to this Dominion, and in a few short weeks New Zealanders will have the opportunity of seeing the finest type of battleship ever seen in these waters. Though not the equal in displacement or in armament to some others of her class, the New Zealand is among the swiftest of Britain’s great warships. When but a few years ago the first Dreadnought was launched, it was almost believed that the last word in great fighting ships had been said. But the Dreadnought of 1906 is left far astern beside the Dreadnoughts and superDreadnoughts of to-day. Other countries are not standing still in this matter, and there have been reports in circulation that five German battleships now building or complete carry, the llin. gun, and three the loin. Soj experienced an authority as Sir AVilliam White, however, believes that the maximum in big guns has been reached, and that we shall swing back to the 12in. The question of weight and space is a most serious consideration. The heavier gun exacts a heavier barbette, and all the fittings and equipments, including ammunition hoists, must be heavier. Space on deck and below is also a consideration of great moment. As to range, the existing guns are perfectly capable of making efficient practice at 10,000 yards, which is, perhaps, a maximum. At 15,000 yards all, nr nearly all, the hull of a battleship, as seen from the gun position, is below the horizon, and a roll or a heavy wave will obscure it altogether. The Americans say their new guns will perforate fifteen inches of hard-faced armour at 10,000 yards, and the tables of the Krupp gun of fourteen inches give a perforation of hardened Krupp nickel steel of over twenty-two inches at 9000 yards. Writing not long ago on

the progress, in British battleship design, the Loudon “Times,” referring to the launching of the Iron Buko —a ship also inspected by King George on the same day that he visited the New Zealand—stated that she is the nineteenth battleship of the Dreadnought class to be put afloat for Britain, and the sixth built-at the same yard since the Dreadnought herself took the water on February 10, 1906. Each of these six vessels marks a stage in the development of British Dreadnoughts, while the battleship of this year’s programme, which is to be laid down on the slips vacated by the Iron Duke, will embody yet another step in progress. All students of naval affairs will have noted this pro-) gressive development, due to the march of improvement in science and manufacture, the lessons of recent experience, and a zealous anxiety to find the' best possible solution of a difficult problem. Naturally this startling progress in naval architecture and this constant building of great' warships has been a costly process for England, and her annual naval) expenditure has risen in fifteen years] from twenty to forty-four millions sterling. The burden is too great for the Motherland to bear without her] children’s aid, and they must loyally take their share of it.