IMPERIAL POLITICS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14156, 16 March 1910, Page 5

IMPERIAL POLITICS.

A POPULAR, MINISTER,. [Press Association—Bv Telegraph—Copy right LONDON, March 14. Sir Riifus D. Isaacs, who succeeded Sir Samuel Evans as Solicitor-General, was re-elected unopposed for Reading. He publicly thanked the Conservative Association for the graceful act and his return. It was not a political triumph, but it was a striking example of the friendship between the different parties in Reading. Sir Rufus had a- ni a- I jority of 207 at the general election. PUBLIC TRUST DEPARTMENT. Mr C. J. Stewart, Public Trustee, reports that the department is self- ' supporting, and. the business, dealt with since the establishment of the office amounts to £38,500,000. THE NAVAL ESTIMATES. The Naval Estimates are expected to provide employment for two hundred thousand men for two years. Two thousand extra, men are engaged in enlarging slips for the accommodation of Dreadnoughts .and another thousand will be engaged after April. j PASSING OF THE BUDGET. j In reply to Lord Hugh Ce.-il, the ' Premier said that' the Government could not give any undertaking, butintended to pass the Budget before the spring recess. This intention was not contingent on anything that might happen, elsewhere. COMPLIMENT TO MR. HEATON. Both parties at Canterbury offer that Mr Henniker Beaton shall be re-elect-ed unopposed if lie will reconsider his decision to retire. THE NAVAL PROGRAMME. MINISTERIAL STATEMENT. Received 10.40 p.'n.. Mr.rch loth. LONDON, March 15. ! Mr McKenna, speaking in committee j on the Naval estimates, said that these I were neither excessive nor insufficient. • Two of the live additional Dread- f noughts would be dockyard ships and be laid down in January. The remainder would be under construction and , likewise laid down in January. He i expressed the Government's gratification that the two great Australian Dominions were with the national navv. (Cheers.) The Australasian ships would shortly be begun, would be completed in the summer of 1912, and leave Europe in the autumn, of 1912, when the others were Hearing completion. Mr McKe.'ina added that by March, 1913, t.nere would be twenty Dreadnoughts. ' Thus throughout 19ia"till 3larch 1.913 .Britain's absolute superiority in Dreadnoughts would be secure. Respecting . other classes of warships Britain's pn- | Gitioj: was incomparable, and he did ] not anticipate s.ny serious, reduction in j future estimates. <

Replying to Sir Charles Beresford'* 1 interruption about the initiation of i Dieadn-mghts, MeKenna. declared j tiiat tlie lirst British Dreadnought was ' begun lire months after Japan's" Satsiin;:>., in 1903, and he proceeded to emphasise that there had been no decrease in the foreign naval programmes during the pasc year. Th o Admiralty's programme v.-as framed according 'to w_mt was being done abroad now and j Within the next two years. : | MeKenna, replying to Questions, 1 i added that thirteen German Dread- : noughts were now in course of construction, and four more for 1011 would possibly be laid down in April and commissioned in 26 months. He hoped that the fact that tlio Admiralty was providing against any continue;-, vy would not give rise to a fear that a friendly nation is accelerating her pro- • gramme with any hostile der.i;m against \ jjiitam. ulr MeKenna admitted that J the dockyard slips were idle between j September and January, but remarked tiiat tae urgent need or more ships had - not been proved. ; Mr Loo criticised the Government for | starving the shipbuilding vote. The ' estimates for tiie United States totalled fiity millions, and he urged the Government to make it clear that further estimates were possible in the present session. j j Mr Barnes described the estimate.? i |as unwarrantable. The Liberals had < ; surrendered the principle of economy at the dictate of the Opposition. Mr MeKenna, in correcting Mr Barnes, stated that Germany's estimates for 1910-1911 were considerably in excess of those for the past year. 'Lord Charles Beresford feared that the Government were delaying five Dreadnoughts. One bright spot was the provision for .destroyers, but the i fleet was not strong enough. The estimates for 1911 would be appalling. He urged the raising of a- loan of Go millions spread over twenty or thirty years, and building all the ships required by 1914. REFORM OF THE LORDS. THE ROSEBERY RESOLUTIONS. The House of Lords was thronged, the Prince and Princess of Wales be- ' ing among those present, when Lord Rosebery moved that the House go into committee on his resolutions. He contended that it was hopeless to imagine that- the Government veto resolutions j if passed in 1910 would be followed by reform in 1911. The Liberals would; say to Mr Asquitli:—"We recognise ( your good intention, but we do not | mean to have anything to do with that, j You deprived tho Lords of their privi- ' : lege and power in a single sessiop. of ■ Parliament, what more do we want." Mr Asqnitli's proposal resembled hamstringing a valuable horse, than entering it for the Derby. He concluded a, - ; closely-reasoned and earnest speech , | against the Government's proposal for ,

i complete domination by the Commons i by setting up a. sham and impotent se- | cond chamber by mentioning the lesI sous of the French Revolution and the j danger of 'withholding concessions un- | til too late. He was convinced that 'the House would rise to its height on | a great occasion and earn the gratitude of unborn generations. Viscount Morl-ey urged the House to

wait, and hear the. Cfovernment's proi posnls. Lord Ro*ebery had failed to

touch the emergency confronting them. What was needed was an effective means of settling the differences between the two ■ houses. Lord Xortheote approved of the resolutions, but he added, that the details required careful examination. The debate was adjourned.