The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1909. THE DREADNOUGHT OFFER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13866, 31 March 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 1909. THE DREADNOUGHT OFFER.

Sir Joseph Ward did an extraordinary thing when he, with the concurrence of the few Members of Parliament who constitute his Cabinet, offered to pay for a, couple of Dreadnoughts to reinforce., the British Navy. Mr T. K. Taylor, MP., has done a still more extraordinary thing, in cabling to the Prime Minister of Great Britain telling him that Sir Joseph Ward had no right I to do anything of the kind, and in adding a sort of provisional alternative offer himself on behalf of Parliament, lie "believes" that Parliament would gladly increase the naval subsidy. The right.or the wrong of it was a purely domestic question ; and Mr Taylor had a right to tell Sir Joseph Ward himself, every day in the week, and several times a day, that he had done wrong; but to cable to the head of the British Government that the head of his own Government had made a blunder, supposing it to have been a blunder, was a bigger blunder still. Mr Taylor's objections to the offer of the Dreadnoughts are, first that it was unconstitutional, being made without the sanction of Parliament; second that it was an interference with British party politics. The first, as we have said, is a domestic affair; the second needed Mr Taylor's exceptional keenness to discover, and now that he has pointed it out, not many people will be able to see it. It would be a source of great satisfaction to most people if they could see, as Mr Taylor professes to lie able to see, that the outcry about the deficiency of the British naval programme is merely a Conservative dodge to block the social reform programme of the Liberal Party. Figures have j

been-'published'Which show that if not. at the present moment the British Navy.will soon fall short of the. twoPcwcr standard in regard to the larger type of vessels, which standard it has beeu x an understood thing Britain should maintain. And if the Conservative Party believed in maintaining that standard, and saw Britain falling below it,-, the t was reason enough in itself for raising an agitation about it, regardless of any other programme. The offer may, as Mr Taylor has further said, provide the Conservatives aI; Home with an -effective weapon for. electioneering purposes; but it happens that they do not want and could nob use such a weapon just now. So far as the offer may be an unfortunate interference with British party politics, Mr Asquitb will know what to do with it. In an explanation of bis action which Mr Taylor gave to the " Lytteltou Times," be probably came near the mark when he said that,the " impetuous action of the Government was prompted by a more than childish desire to get ahead of Australia and other countries in-a demonstration of loyalty to the Empire." Tin's is the view taken of the offer by many of., the r public and by many of the newspapers, though they contrive to nlake a virtue of it. Quite a large proportion Of the comments that have obtained publication regarding the offer consisted of congratulations that New Zealand had been the first to make such an offer, had ".shown, the way " to others, and so on. An opinion of that nature Mr Taylor may justifiably form and express, in tin's, country; but as a part of his explanation of the cable,lie sent to Mr Asquitb, it does not maek his message the less extraordinary. There is another matter mentioned in Mr Taylor's statement to the " Lytteltou Times" that calls for remark. He, said: "One of the most extraordinary features of the Government's offer is the despatch by the Prime Minister to the editors of the newspapers of a p_anic telegram. It led the editors to believe that the' Government was in possession of information, not at, the time revealed to the public through the newspapers, to the effect that the conditions at Home called for extraordinary action on the part of the New Zealand Government." .We received a copy of that telegram, and it was marked "Confidential." It is to be' presumed that-a other copies .of the circular were similarly marked. If so, how did Mr Taylor become possessed of a knowledge of their contents? We are not going to say anything about its contents; but reference to our article about the Memorandum upon the offer which accompanied it, will show that the "Herald" did not/give way to "panic" through its perusal. After the above was in type there arrived the cable message published iii another column which purports to give the gist of a speech by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, which "created a sensation in a crowded House." It appears from this message that the whole case of the Conservatives is admitted- by the Government, and the ground is cut from under the feet of anyone who regards the Hival Navies agitation as a move in party politics. It does not seem very likely though, that this admission would be made to colonial Cabinets before it was made to the British Parliament and public;; or if it was, it could not have been intended to call forth instant action. Supposing it' was, whatever information was sent to New Zealand would be sent to all; and the differences in the effects it produced on the minds of the various Prime Ministers must be attributed to the differences in their outlook upon the whole question of the defence of the Empire.- Australians, for instance, have been thinking a great deal about home defence and a- navy of their own ; 'South Africa is absorbed in the question of Federation; Canada is fairly strong and perhaps has little to fear; while New Zealand, without a single reservation, relies for her security upon the British Navy. After the speech of Sir K. Grey, Sir Joseph Ward had better publish whatever hints he. received from Home, that led him to make his famous offer.