Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1913. IMPERIAL NAVY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 144051, 22 March 1913, Page 2

Taranaki Herald. (DAILY EVENING.) SAT UR DAY, MARCH 22, 1913. IMPERIAL NAVY.

British Naval Estimates, brought dov. u a few days ago, provide lor an expenditure or £46,300,(K)i), as compared with £43,075,(H»9 tor tea current year. The programme of new construction includes live battleships, eight light ciuiscrs, 3(J torpedoboat destroyers, and au unspecified number of submarines at an aggregate cost of £15,958.325. New construction in the previous twelve months cost the country £13,01-1,099, The personnel of the Royal Navy b; 1o lie increased by 8500. A comparison between proposed and pad expenditure may not be uninteresting just here. In 1998-00 tin total amount spent was £34.439,403: in 190910. £30.599,1292; in 1910-11, £41,519,831 : in 19] M2, £45,280,322; and in 1912-13, £45,074,724. According to a cable message published in the Sydney Sun, The Times says that the provision for only five battleships will cause disappointment in many quarters, and will probably provoke keen criticism in Parliament. “It can,” says the English journal, “only be regarded as adequate upon the assumption that H.M.S. New Zealand or the battleship given by the Malay States is to be retained in Home waters, or at least in European waters. Until a new ship is built to replace her, New Zealand’s offer to let the H.M.S. New Zealand be placed wherever the Bri tish Government considers her services most valuable, is a purely provisional arrangement, and no solution of the problem of the whole future relations of the overseas dominions to the Imperial Navy. It is not, perhaps, a question that is ripe for solution at present, hut it must never he lost sight of hy the Admiralty."

Not without its difliculiies is the question of the relations of the dominions with the Mother (country with regard to naval defence. Australia has decided on a fleet of her own, New Zealand has given a battleship and pays an annual subsidy—not an extravagant one —to the upkeep of the Imperial Navy, and Canada’s new naval policy is-shortly: The contribution of three Dreadnoughts to cost seven million pounds, the warships to be the most powerful in the world: the ships to be built in the United Kingdom under the supervision of the Admiralty and to become part of the battle lines of the British Navy; the vessels to he under the control and upkeep of the British Admiralty, but to he returned to Canada at some In lure time if the nucleus of a Canadian Navy is decided upon. The ships arc not to he built in Canada for lack of facilities, and in view of au extra cost of probably £1,250,000. The xVdmiralty is ready, however, to order for construction in Canada a number of smaller ships, and in this way the Canadian shipbuilding will be fostered, the Canadian Government giving a measure of assistance. Here we have three of the dominions adopting different schemes for playing their parts in the defence of the Empire; nothing very definite regarding an advanced policy has yet emanated from South Africa. At one time, under the Lanrier regime, the idea was that Canada should have a navy of her own. That idea has apparently not been entirely abandoned; it is only hung up. There are some

people in Hew Zealand wlio would like to see this Dominion commence tlie building of a navy, but the majority, we believe, would hardly deem the time ripe for such a step, although all are agreed that it would be a grand thing were the Old Country relieved of the defence of the Pacific, which mig'ht prove a serious strain in the event of her being involved in a war with one of the European Powers. Australia has made a good start with its programme of eight Dreadnought cruisers, ten protected cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and twelve submarines, the whole to cost £23,000,000, spread over twentytwo years : the outlay rising annually from £1,700,000 in 1912 to £5,000,000 in 1932-33, with the annual cost of maintenance increasing proportionately, the basis being that an annual Australian naval vote of £5,000,000 is relatively equal, on the present population basis, to a Dritiah naval budget of £45,000,000. A gratifying feature of the question of Imperial naval defence is that the dominions are thoroughly alive to tbeir responsibilities and appear ready to shoulder them; it is a pity that a uniform scheme has not been arrived at.