THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1912. AN IMPERIAL SQUADRON.

Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13465, 10 July 1912, Page 4

THE COLONIST. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1912. AN IMPERIAL SQUADRON.

Mr "Winston Churchill's Imperial Flying Squadron scheme lias met with a much friendlier welcome at tlie hands of the British Press than has his policy of withdrawing the Mediterranean fleet to home waters and the projected sharing of the defence of the Mediterranean with Fraiiee. The First Lord's statement that, the battleships havo been re-

called to participate in the forthcoming review at Spithead, <tnd his promise to submit the future Mediterranean poliej7 to Parliament, have done little to allay the anxiety created by what is regarded by his critics as the virtual evacuation of a station of enormous strategic, importance. In the view of tho Navy League, the proposed fleet reorganisation involves, with the practical abandonment of the Mediterranean, danger in the event of war to our position in Egypt, to our communications with India, and to tho free passage of our trade with the East via the Suck Canal as well as with Eastern Europe. In such circumstances there must necessarily be. a certain shortage of food supply, and consequent serious increase of prices in Britain. The" saving effected by the withdrawal of ' a, battle squadron from tho Mediterranean must be placed against the charges for increased garrisons at Malta and increased forces in Egypt in timo of peace, and apart from the grave risks to our position hi the East, against tho hazard to which tho stability of the Stato will be exposed by tho pressure of famine prices upon the masses of tho population in time of war. Tho naval cm-re spondont of tho London "Daily Tele'"1 ■ ■-';," in a recent article on the Empire and the Navy, pointed out that under the reorganisation policy every battleship except four weak vessels of tho Duncan class, will bo based on British ports, and these four mon-of-war will be no further away than Gibraltar. There will not bo a single battleship in tiro Mediterranean, where- seven years ago.Britain had fourteen; tliere will h> not a single battleship in the Far East, j where ten years ago she had four; 'tlie-ro will not bo a single large cruiser in tho

Atlantic; and there is a constriction of the strength of all the distant squadrons. ; This movement he says, jnuist add to tho anxiety of tho oversea' Do-

millions. To remove-the necessity for the withdrawal of battleships from the distant stations, lio suggests the creation of an Imperial service squadron, which will enable the Admiralty to place eight modern ships in those waters, with a due proportion of cruisers and torpedo craft. This would bo a "pivot force," protecting the entrance to the Channel, where tho great trade routes converge, protecting the entrance to tho Mediterranean, and protecting also tho lines of Atlantic trade. If tho main strategical theatre became the Pacific, then this squadron would steam south. Naval force is fluid; it can be moved rapidly and swiftly, so as to respond to policy. The squadron io perform this duty would have to bo powerful and mobile, and tho "Telegraph" correspondent's suggestion is that it should bo composed of eight up-to-dato battle cruisers and a dozen smaller cruisers. He proposes that future aid from tho Dominions in maintaining the naval strength of tho Empire should bo applied to this squadron, alid even proposes that the cntiro cost of creation and upkeep should be borne by the Dominions. That any of tho Dominions could assumo the burden represented by tho individual shares, in addition to the heavy annual expenditure they arc- undertaking in securing local defence, is out of tho question, but tho scheme of the First Lord of the Admiralty io create a. flying squadron, which is regarded aa the most promising means of meeting the difficulties created by recent developments of European policy, may claim tho Dominions' naval contributions to assist in its upkeep. Such an application of their subsidies would certainly bo acceptable to the Dominions, as tending towards realisation of the ideal of an Imperial fleet.