BRITAIN'S POSITION IN 1912.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12501, 30 March 1909, Page 3

BRITAIN'S POSITION IN 1912.

THE GOVERN^ifI' ISMO'iTO.ISMO'iTO. [Press Association—Ccptrioht.] London, March 28. In.the House of Com n ms, Dr Moenamara, Secretary to the Admiralty, denied that there was any likelihood of Germany getting ahead* ol Engl.-»d by April, 1912. He added tbat the margin occasionally possibly would be small, but the Dreadnought fleet ci.d the Government's programme lully assured the safety of the nation. Mr Runciman, President of the Board of Education, speaking at .Colchester, denounced an artificially inflated scare, and declared that the British Navy was impregnable. —No German Dreadnoughts were yet afloat, and Germany had only two-fifths of our number of available sailors. The Government's- motto, with naval 'nf--fairs was "Safety without superfluity." Rear-Admiral Sir Percy Scott, in a speech, declared that the value of fleets depends more, on hitting powerthan numbers. He said that the,lndomitable, with eight guns, made double the number of hits of . the Dreadnoughts with ten. Lieutenant Bellairs, M.P., whom th? Liberal Association has repudia- " ted, obtained at a meeting of his constituents" a unanimous resolution of confidence, which declared that the anxiety of the country and the Empire regarding the-naval supremacy proved his warnings right, and that; -h-j had earned the gratitude., of his countrymen.