GIFT DREADNOUGHTS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 248, 25 February 1911, Page 9

GIFT DREADNOUGHTS

The laying (if the keels of the New Zi'iiliiml mid Australian gift Dreadnoughts, the two great '2li,;lOI)-toii battleslii|> cruisers, to cost eaeli upwards of two millions sterling, presented for the defence of the Kmpire during 1000, by the patriotUni of our high-spirited kinsfolk who have their homes beneath the Southern Cross -which took place just before Hie ilea Hi of King Edward—formed the last naval event of the reign. And the launch of the two ships ne.M spring will be among the notable naval events of King (icorge's coronation vear. Both are. being built on the Clyde, and will represent the biggest and most powerful warships of their type in existence (writes Kdward Krase'r in the (iraphic). The Xew Zealand .ship, the lirst oll'eral, and the spontaneous promise of which (Xew Zealand nobly oll'ercd us two if we wanted them) led to Australia's following suit, is. when ready in .lulv, 191-2, to be at Die disposal of'the Admiralty for service, in any part of the world that the needs of the Kmpire may demand. The Australian ship. at the Commonwealth's request, i.s ear-marked for service primarily in Australian waters and the Indian Ocean.

The oll'er of these two ships is, indeed, one of the most striking Imperial events of recent times, and lias stirred Canada into making a response which will take definite shape later in its own way. At the same time, we must remember that Xalal and the Cape have already done their best in the same spirit some years ago—Natal, by the generous gift, as far as the resources of the colony will allow, of a free coal supply, placed at the disposal of the British fleet; Cape Colony, by a substantial cash contribution to the Navy, towards the upkeep of a "modern first-class battleship. But, justly as we may pride ourselves on such acts of patriotism, they arc, after all, no new thing. Even in a matter of that kind there is nothing new under the sun. We ourselves in England —our forefathers of old—did the same sort of thing, and that more than once, in the same spirit of patriotism that in these days has stirred our fellow-coun-trymen of Greater Britain.

In the had old days of Charles 11., when England was in trouble over a Dutch war and one of our lineat battleships had met with disaster, the city of London came forward and presented the King with a magnificent first-rate battleship, at a cost of £loo,ooo—a big sum for those days. That was in 1065. In the year Jii'JO, on the outbreak of war with France, riymouth presented William and Mary with a DO-gtin frigate at the cost of between twenty and thirty thousand pounds. In 1747, during another of our wars with France, the then loyal colonists of North America presented George 11. with a 44-gun ship, named the America, at a cost of forty thousand pounds. In 1771), when France and Spain during the American war were pressing (Jreat Britain hard, and had practically \\!i-ic(l the command of the sea from her, the l\;ist India Company voluntarily presented Ceorgc Tf. with three splendid 74-gim ahips, named the Bombay Castle-, flanges and Carnatic, at a cost of £•206,000 for the three ships. In 1782, as a set-off. to the loss of the Royal George, the city of London proposed to build for the Navy a 110-gun first-rate ship, and Suffolk, Cornwall and Cumberland opened county subscriptions, which were heartily supported, to build three 74-gim ships for the Navy. The termination of hostilities, however, wilhin four months, stopped the projects. In 1811, during the great war with Napoleon, several of our West Indian colonies clubbed together and presented between them practically a little squadron of six sloops-of-war, to assist the Royal Navy in the defence of the islands against French commerce-raiders. In 1830 the Imnnni of Muscat, on the Persian Gulf, who was aT that time an important ruler under the protection of Croat Britain, presented William IV. with a 72gnn ship, which he had specially built at Bombay at a cost of ;t<35,000. It was sailed over to England, and on arrival at Portsmouth was named the Imaum. She was in existence until quite recently as a training ship. Then we have the "Cape battleship" gift already spoken of, and so come down to our two New Zealand and Australian gift Dreadnoughts of to-day.