NOTES FROM LONDON.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16612, 11 December 1919, Page 3

NOTES FROM LONDON.

NAVY AND ARMY ESTIMATES. THE ATLANTIC FLEET. Dy -Press Assn.—Copyright. LONDON. Doc. 5. Xho Naxy Estimates are 157* milSir, Wat ter Long (First Lord of the Admiralty! jvin'.s out that a largo proportion ij, tor services prior to the arr.tist.sci?. Ho mentions that tho situation in Ireland has necessitated the employment, of sin destroyers, three sloops' and six motor launches in Irish waters. The clearance of the seas ol mines has boon accomplished well within the scheduled tune. The loss of life in mine-sweeping was only six. The new Atlantic Fleet, compared with the Grand Fleet, will consist of: Battle squadrons, two compared with four; battle-cruiser squadron, one compared with two; cruiser squadrons, nil compared with two; living squadrons, one ship; light cruiser squadrons, two compared with seven; destroyer flotillas, four compared with six; submarine flotillas, three compared with six. Two hundred and lifty-two thousand officers and men had been demobilised. Sis hundred and eleven ships have been cancelled out of 1005 ordered or in tho course of construction. A total of 223 of his Majesty’s ships were lost in tho war, including thirteen battleships and three battle-cruisers. In addition, 813 auxiliary vessels were lost. Three million persons and fifty million tons of goods were transported by sea in wartime.

It is estimated that the expenditure on new construction is £25,000,000. The Army Estimates expect the army to be reduced to 400,000 by March, 1920. Expenditure for the year is estimated at £405,000,000. —Aus.S.Z. Cable Assn. SPEECH BY MR. LLOYD GEORGE. THE DUMPING PROBLEM. (Received Dec. 11, 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 5. In his speech at the Rotorm Club in Manchester Mr. Lloyd George admitted* that the Anti-Dumping Bill was retrogressive, but he said that the promoters of the Tariff Bill of 101 b, or the Runciman resolutions, which singled out one nation for hostile legislation after the war, cannot condemn the Government’s attitude. He, as a free trader, refused to believe that the cause of free trade was inseparable from permitting dumping, which Mr. Asquith styled as untair competition. To remove dumping would strengthen free trade. This one measure was evidently to he used to urge Liberals to abandon their pledges and further divide the nation and hamper reconstruction. They were asked to leave a combination which carried the greatest reform act, the greatest land reform ever carried, which was pledged to Heme Rule for Ireland and liberal institutions in India. “We are asked to divide the nation in the face of a vigilant enemy in order to reunite the Liberal Party on the German dumpheap.” That was not going to make Liberalism a living force. The Premier paid a tribute to the loyalty of his Unionist colleagues to their election pledges. He said_ that Sir Walter Runciman recently "advocated the co-operation of the best elements of the Liberals and Labourites; the same thing applied to the best elements of the Liberals and Unionists. He asked Mr. Asquith whether he, if in power at the end of the war, would have dismissed his Unionist colleagues who had helped to win the war.

The only alternative to coalition was confusion. There was a new challenge to civilisation affecting the whole fabric of Society. It declared private enterprise a failure which must bo rooted out. Those who believed in the virtues of private enterprise must remove the evils which had provoked the challenge to national unity. This alone could save Britain, Europe and the world. He appealed to Liberalism to participate, worthily in the united effort to save the world.

NON-INTERFERENCE IN RUSSIA. THE BRITISH POLICY. LONDON, Dec. 9. Mr. Lloyd Georgo, at Downing Street, assured a deputation of trade union leaders that the Government policy is one of non-interference in tho internal affairs of Russia, British ships and troops had been withdrawn. He said that if the Peace Treaty with Germany is signed, not a single conscript should remain in the British Army. After February the Government could not continue the unemployment dole—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. NEXT GENERAL ELECTION. LONDON, Dec. 5. Mr. Bonar Law, speaking at Glasgow, prophesied that there would be no general election for at least three years.