THE NAVY LEAGUE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14039, 23 October 1909, Page 3

THE NAVY LEAGUE.

A' SUPREME FLEET VITAL. The' Navy League says that a supreme fleet is vital: — 1. Because it is your only guarantee of peace. 2. Because in case Britain is attacked, it is your one hope of victory. ;i. Because it ensures the safety of your hearth and home. 4. Because it is intended for defence not defiance. 5. Because you and 43,000,000 other Britons live in an unvictualled ocean citadel in the North Sea. G. Because it guarantees the safe arrival of your food sppply and raw materials from over the sea. 7. Because for you a Fleet is a necessity, ; to foreign nations it is a luxury. 8. Because the value of your seaborne trade is £*1,400,000,000 per annum. 9. Because £'200.000,000 worth of food is imported annually into the British Isles (£4OO worth per minute). 10. Because you require 300 merchant ships every week to provide you with food and raw materials in tho British Isles. 11. Because yon possess a mercantile marine of 12,000,000 tons, which would require protection in time of war. 12. Because if the supply of material and the export of manufactured products is arrested, the wage fund will disappear; so that tho purchasing power of the people must prove utterly inadequate to their needs, and the available store of provisions', however increased, will be entirely beyond their means. 13. Because the sea is your highway from any one part of your Empire to any other part. 14. Because you have an Empire of 12,000,000 square miles to protect. 15. Because the population of the Empire is 400,000,000. lfv'Because without it you could not transport your troops over-sea to India, or wherever they might be required in time of war. 17. Because in the settlement of international disputes, it is the right arm of the Foreign Minister. 18. Because it "helps, as Captain Mahan, U.S.N., says, to guarantee the peace of the world. 19. Because the foundations of the Empire are laid upon sea power. 20. Because you are a trustee for a world-wide Empire which was won for you by your forefathers, and which it is your duty to hand down unimpaired to those who follow you. 21. Because defeat at sea would mean the loss of your Empire and your liberties as a free people. 22. Because it means for you the fact that you are free from invasion. 23. Because your past has lain on the water, your present lies on the water, and your future must lie on the water. 24. Because "Tho Fleet of England is her all in all, her Fleet is in your hands, and in her Fleet her fate."