PATRIOTIC ENTERTAINMENT.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13635, 25 November 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

PATRIOTIC ENTERTAINMENT.

ADDRESS BY MR C. Y. FELL

IMPORTANCE OF A STRONG NAVY

The entertainment' given by the Permanent Pictures management, with the assistance of the Nelson Savage Club, tat the Theatre Royal last night, was of a patriotic character, in honour of .Trafalgar Day, and was under the patronace of the Nelson branch of the Navy (League. There was.a large and enthusiastic audience. ■ \ photograph of the King was shown, iand was received with acclamation, followed by the singing of the National jAhthem After the presentation or moving pictures of the recent great naval review at Spithead, which were warmly applauded, an address was given by Mr C V Fell, president of the local branch of the league. He said it was only of moderately recent years that. ™-had italsen to commemorating the battle or Trafalgar. France had been our good ■and faithful friend for nearly a century Trafalgar, however, .stood lor us as a Wide-reaching victory, not over the BPrench nation, but over a tyrant. It Sneant the triumph of freedom over the over-mastering genius ot Napoleon. ■STnrou"-h that victory Europe.was able in the- end to overcome his desperate aspirations. We commemorated the* day is that which gave England the nn'doubted command of the sea, and so made her 'the arbiter of the fate- of {Europe. We were in almost an exactly similar position to-day. It had been lon* felt by the most far-seeing minds in England that the position m which IW'e now were, namely, at death-grips jwith the most formidable war-power the ■world had ever seen, must come sooner or later. And it was evident that wo had but one how of final success,- and *hat that lav in our Navy- It was fcopeless for England, as a small eouiijfcry to muster a sufficient land force to Resist Germany; and our only hope ot fcafety in the struggle to have a sufficiently strong Navy in addition to fch© Army. There were, however.. - x ihreo parties? in the Old Country. Far- ■- Beeing men, of whom Lord Roberts was * typical leader, though there were thousands of others who thought with

him, felt that, we must eventually-fight Germany, and that our Navy was not up to tho mark, - Others said they knew a conflict, was coming ,but that we would be all right when it came. The third party said, "We need.no army or navy; we will never have ware any more." And this last was a strong party, and it was represented, not only in England, but in Germany as well. Although so many urged that unless the British Navy was strengthened nothing could save the Empire in the event of war, it was difficult to persuade tho people and the Government to listen to them, and they were called alarmists. It was to awaken the people to the danger that hung over them that tho Navy League was .instituted, as an educative body, and also a body to bring pressure to bear on the Government. The League had proved to bo -i i body of great influence. In Germany, ] where there was a strong war party, there was also a Navy League. » It, however, was a" body fostered by tho Government; and it wont ahead like wildfire during the Boer War. Tho British Navy League, on the oth-.vr hand, had been mainly occupied in rousing the people to a sense of the danger they were in. and in urging the gravity of the position on tho Government. It was, he believed, Admiral Sir John Fisher who initiated the great naval reforms of whicn the most important were the building of Dreadnoughts and the concentration of ships in and near the Norhh Sea. But the British Government had all along been fearful of the tax-payer, and it was only by pressure that their hand had been to some extent forced. There came a time, however, when the growth of the German Navy made it patent that, if we were to hold our own, we must keep our Navy up to full strength, aJid consequently there had been of late very great vigour in our naval affairs. Arrangements were made for the enormous review at Spithead, of which they had seen some pictures that evening. That review practically amounted to a mobilisation of our naval force just before the war broke out. The position which the Navy occupied at that momoment was vital to the existence of the Empire. As it happened, when war was declared every vessel of the fleet was able to go at once to its appointed •place, with the result that the German Navy at a whole had never moved since. The Germans might just as well have saved the money they had spent on their navy, for, with jthe exception m a i'evr vessels, it was bottled up at Wiihelmshaven; and there it, was likely to remain till the end of the war. It was t)irough our Navy that we were able to occupy the magnificent position which we did at the present moment. That position was due to some extent to the efforts of the Navy League, which bad assisted to awaken the nation to the necessity for an overpowering force upon the sea.. To give an idea of the work of tho Navy, Mr Fell read an account of the experiences of the destroyer Laurel at the battle of Heligoland Bight. In conclusion, he said he hoped his hearers would wish well to the Navy League. It was probably part of everyone's duty to become a member of that body. The League had been required in tho-past; and the time might come when it would be wanted again. Mr Fell's remarks were receoived with applause.

The popular British marching song, "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," was sung by Mr J. Houlker, the audience joining in the refrain with' v/hich our soldiers lightened their march from Boulogne to the battlefields of France-. Mr A. C. Maginnity sang "Plymouth Hoe,:' and Mr A. G. Thompson sang "The Cavalier," with "An Episode (Lohr) as an encore number. The orchestra, played mUsic suitable to the occasion, in excollent style.