LORD FISHER ON THE NAVY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16610, 6 December 1919, Page 9

LORD FISHER ON THE NAVY.

CONSTRUCTIVE ECONOMY. WHOM ARE AYE GOING TO FIGHT—AND WHEEL? VI. (By Admiral of tbo Fleet Lord I islier.) The previous articles will have made quite clear that whatever may bo determined upon us regards the strength of the Navy, a period of change is near at band as sweeping in its character as was cither the introduction of steam or the advent of armour; for the fact is unquestioned that aircraft arc even now making such prodigious developments that the only escape for vessels on the .surface of the' ocean from their attack will be to go under water. These types of submersible vessels or every size and character instantly require great study and research anti much experiment. The only reliable experiment is on a. scale, ol twlovo niches to the foot. I have myself quite definite views and quite definite, plans as to how those twelve inches to the loot experiments should proceed. _Mnnilcstly, I should be a futile ass to disclose them. In such a. revolutionary scheme there must be an overriding influence and power that will brook no doubts or fears and admit no waverings or compromises. THE FUTURE BATTLEGROUND. We bad a submersible carrying a. 12incli gun before the war ended. (It lias nothin."- to do with what 1 am talking about, but 1 must slate the interesting fart that the very day this 12-mch-giin submersible was ready for battle site beard bv her own wireless installation a me-.sage passing mi a far-distant sea.) This iL’-inch-guii submersible I put forward on August A lb 15: but apathy and lei nr.rgy delayed her till the waives near its end. Imagination and audacity—l hoso twin imperative necessities in var—were at that time absolutely lacking, and all initiative lapsed into a passive quietude utterly foreign to our groat .\elsonic. past. Vi c won t he war ce: tainly, ami v. o won it on l.he sea ; but it was a .slumbrous win, ami multitude.-; were unnecessarily shun or aadimd. However, we got the lillecn new Republics! Alas, but at what a tacrilicc! A.v-oeiatod with this constructive economy we have this integral feature —the I c,lure battleground I Where will it be? i have elsewhere p; opium Jed t ho view that. Asia, which of out m one. direction s-m forth Moses and Jr.; niull:tudj, wdl produce another,lvmdu:; into Europe and into tbo Western Hi mispbero from tho holders of the, Pacific. That ocean holds the future. Every loui-lh baby born into tin; world is a Oaiucse. 1 have been many, many years in China and Japan. 1 have an intense admiration for tho inhabitants ol both these countries. in the harbour ol Malta, with a box of matches, I played Time's decisive battle—a- second Trafal-gai-—with Togo's Chief o» Stuff before that battle was fought, it was an obvious battle 1 The Russian Fleet would 1 bo overloaded with coal at Saigon so as to get to Yladivostock —so an already slow fleet would bo all t he slower for it. The Japanese Elect, tho faster fleet normally, would bo all the more last as it would curry only sufficient coal for tiie balilo. Consequently Togo walked round Rodjesvensky like a cooper round a task, and -sank, according to plan, one Russian battleship alter another in a methodical order. SCANNING THE HORIZON. Rut whom aro wc going to fight? Is it either a Chinese or a Japanese Navy? I cannot conceive any earthly reason for such an event. Still more incredible, inconceivable, and impossible is our fighting the United States. To me it is criminal even to talk of it. Air. Roosevelt said this also. John Bright mado an immortal speech—l repeated it at tho entertainment of Air. Josephus Daniels by Hie American Luncheon Club. His plan would make us one family speaking the samo tongue. _ I got tliis Horn tbo Into Andrew Carnegio; ho wrote it in 1U11“As the sun in the heavens once shone upon Britain and America united, so surely is it one morning to rise, shino upon, and greet again tiie reunited State, ‘Tbo JiritishAmerican Union.’ ” If this family is determined not to commit, tho incredible insanity of allowing such a civil war, then for what else is a big navy required? Can’t tho American and English navies dominate the world at any time? Wo simply say to all others: “Build no more or wo fight yon 1 We’ll ‘Copenhagen’ you hero and now!” I know, ol eour.-e, how brothers can hato each other. “How these Christians fight each other I” said a Roman Emperor. But tho United States, with three times our population, ever increasing, with every self-sustaining requisite, and with its two oceans 1 Even on the lowest ground what, madness it would be! And Canada cannot help herself siding with tho United States; they arc inextricably mixed up. Tho boundary line is only figurative, and oil passing it it is a puzzle to realize it. I know tbo war theories about Alexico and Japan in unison ; but remember —Japan was at her utmost limit when sho made peace with Russia. Russia did not realize her population strength when sho mado peace. - It is population and self-con-tained that govern tho outcome of a war,"m association with access to tho ocean. ■ The United States have all these. AN AIRPROOF ARMADA Weill What does all this lead to in determining our sea policy? Tho answer is peculiarly simple. Mr. Barnes, that greatest of all editors of The Times, said, “Repetition is tho soul of journalism,” so 1 repeat again what should bo tho British formula:— “Build few and build fast, Each one bettor than tho last.” Wo shall thus get very cheaply and efficiently an airproof armada ready lor any service and lit for any eventuality; but if you think I would ever give anyone “a plan without the power of its execution,” you aro a typo of him who sold Oi lior.so for a .gross of green spectacles in “Tho Vicar of Wakefield.” Am 1 going to fight tho Admiralty or the Government? No, I am not. _ I know of no more experienced polititian than Air. ARKemai, late Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now controller of tho biggest bank in tho world. He gave mo this advice once; “Never fight a public department; you cannot win. They marshal facts which are incontestable.” AVlicn 1 was controller of tho Navy 1 liad a wonderful secretary. I ■ said to him one day (ho had had 40 years’ experience), “The First Lord wants all tho facts” (about a subject thou causing great Parliamentary questioning of him in the House of Commons). Aly secretary replied, “What does the First Lord want to prove?” and ho got the facts accordingly. The

Government ca£o was unanswerable, ami the First Lord fixed np Parliament. Parliament was right, but Parliament lost 1 Mind you, when all these articles arc read people will say, “Here's a lunatic. ’’ Now I will toll you a. story about a lunatic. A friend of mine went to see a lunatic asylum where the patients wore being treated on a now principle of giving them the utmost latitude to indulge their tastes. The day ho went bricklayers wore putting up in the spacious grounds some little outbuilding. A bevy of patients! had asked for .wheelbarrows to trundle about the grounds. They were given them, and my friend met one of them wheeling his barrow upside down. Ho said to the lunatic, “ain’t you making a mistake? Your burrow ought to be the other way np.” The lunatic stopped wheeling bis barrow and said to him, “Well, yon kuov , I thought myself I was making a mistake, but when I turned it over the. other way they filled it full of He was the only sane man among the lunatics. The others wore wheeling barrow-loads of bricks for the bricklayers. He used bis barrow for his own intended purpose. 1 sometimes think I am the only sane man. Anyhow, lam going to wheel my barrow upside down, i’ll see the Admiralty’s bricks damned first before I wheel them about.

1 get these words from an unknown friend as this goes to the post:— “The savage instinct is still strong, and every human being bates change—especially a change for tbo better. If you invent a new euro for disease, they will burn you; if you are a patriot, j they will shoot you; if you build up a | business that employs a thousand men, ; you arc a blighted capitalist, grinding the face of the poor. If you compose divine music, you will dio in a garret.”