FEW BRITISH SHIPS

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1935, Page 21 (Supplement)

FEW BRITISH SHIPS

EARL JELLICOE’S REGRET. DANGERS IN EVENT OF A WAR. Earl Jellicoe, in opening a Trafalgar bazaar at Newcastle recently, recalled occasions during the war when he frequently visited Newcastle in his capacity of Director of Naval Ordnance. It was terrible to revisit Newcastle in these days and see so many shipyards closing down. Tills had brought great distress to Newcastle and surrounding districts,

and to officers and men of the merchant navy. ' , In 1914, he said, Great Britain had 8500 ships, with a tonnage totalling 19,000,000. In 1935 the tonnage stood at 17,500,000. Foreign countries in 1914 possessed 14,300 ships, with a tonnage of 25.000,000. In 1935 these ships numbered 20,000, of a total tonnage of 43,050,000. “That,” said Lord Jellicoe, ‘ “is a seriout matter. It means that if Great Britain were unhappily engaged in another world war we should be largely dependent on foreign ships for carriage of raw materials and manufactured goods to and from our colonies and Dominions,