THE RIVAL NAVIES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13873, 8 April 1909, Page 5

THE RIVAL NAVIES.

ADDRESS BY ADMIRAL I'OORE

COMMONWEALTH DREADNOUGHT

l'l-Oos Assodatiiin-Hv Xelegrn j>h -CVipy i Received 8.00 p.m., April 7th. SYDNEY, April 7.

At the official opening of tho Agricultural Show, Admiral Poorc, in inferring to the Dreadnought, said ho hod heard the movement described as hysterical. There could, he said, lie nothing hysterical ill: tlie sympathy of tho children towards the Mother Country. He added that whatever might be said lie wished them to remember that the bottom''hud not yet dropped out of tbo British iVury.

Mr Cook, Leader of the -Federal Opposition, said that the Dreadnought woAld go as soon us the Federal Parliament 'could .speak, and be sent by the earnest desire of the whole peoplo oL the Commonwealth. Mr Wade and one or two other speakers referred to the Dreadnought and the relations between the States and the Commonwealth.

Tho Earl of Dudley, in subsequently proposing the health;■ of the president, said lie wished to. point out that a great thing on occasions like this was to avoid placing anyone in a difficult position. Tlio .Commonwealth Ministers were his advisers, and as ho expected his advisers, to be loyal to liim, he so hoped always to .be loyal to them. It mattered not to liim who was in power, whether it were Liberal, Labour, or any other soetion, he would be loyal to them," and expected them to be loyal to him. He hoped on occasions of this sort that political allusions either to the Federal or State Governments would bo avoided. lie wanted t<> make it clear that Jie -could only sit at gatherings where this rule was observed. .

AUSTRIA'S DECISION. LONDON, April 7. .The "Standard" repolrls that the decision of Austria to build threo Dreadnoughts -has given great satisfaction. . ( GERMAN DECLARATION. BERLIN,. April 7. Germans declare that what tlio British overseas dominions arc iloing for the British Empire, Austria and Hungary are doing for Germany. SATISFACTORY FEATURES. AN IMPORTANT ADDRESS.

Received 10.20 p.m., April 7th. LONDON, April 7

Mr Thomas James MacNamara, Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to tho Admiralty, in a speech at the City Liberal Club, declared that two satisfactory features had emerged from the naval debate;, .first, a : determination mot with amongst all classes to maintain the navy unchallenged and unchallengeable; second, tKq colonies' spontaneous recognition of their vital state, lie added .that the government's"programme was sufficient to secure the national safety. ,' He .denied that b.Y April, 1912, Germany woiild got ahead of Britain. lie admitted that Britain's superiority' in Dreadnoughts might at times be narrow, but ho emphasised tho.. ..preponderance 'of prcDroadnought ships.,'.

DEFENCE QF THE EMPIRE. THE' NxVVAL'.CAMPMGN.' deceived 10.5 p.m., April 7th. ; LONDON, April 7. In the. House of Commons, Mr ■ Asquitli, in reply .to questions, intimated that any special conference on the naval defence of the Empire was dependent upon an agreement in that direction between tlio Imperial and Colonial Governments. Tho latter had iiot expressed a. desiro fo.r such a conference. '

The "'Chronicle," in referring to the proposals of the Opposition l'or a naval campaign, says that it is most undesirable that the navy (should continue to be dragged along the party ruts. The fact fa there has been .too uiifcjh of tactics 911- this matter on both sicjes. The •Government;" for tactical reasons, combined, a cry of danger with a hypothetical war. The meeting of the Opposition, for tactical roasons, magnify the danger and reduce, tlio hypothetical qiiartctte of Dreadnoughts to; pliatitqm ships. Nobody, helioses that only four Dreadnoughts will bo tho sum of the Government's programme for 190!), yet wlieii tho Government proceed to do what-they already mean to do, they will perhaps bo' represented as having been bullied into it. This is abstird, and ought to bo prevented betimes. ,

A Bill creating a Cunadian naval militia or force of voluritoers, whence the future navy will be recruited, will shortly bo submitted with tlio Admiralty's concurrence. It is hoped tlio Bill will become law in 1900.