The Timaru Herald. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1924. EMPIRE'S NAVAL DEFENCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 17 November 1924, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1924. EMPIRE'S NAVAL DEFENCE.

“We want no more competitive armaments,” said President Cooiidge in liis- plea for the perlectmy of Panama’s defences,

"we want no more war. Rut we want no weakness that invites imposition. A people who neglect then' national defence are putting in jeopardy their national honour.” The American President admirably expresses the real : British view. If then, since I Britain's defences are mainly j upon the. highways of the sea, | the. Empire, welcomes the brighter j outlook in naval policy that | comes hack with Mr Baldwin aim | his majority in Parliament, while | every nritisli community in the j southern seas will endorse the j broad-minded contention put forj ward by "The Observer” that Australia and New Zealaud must be heard concerning the question lof the Singapore base. Unquesj tionably "Whitehall cannot, settle this matter for itself, but the voice of the Dominions- chiefly concerned must: be given at least an equal weight, with the arguments advanced for delay or abandonment, of the naval base project for.the East.” Notwithstanding the- outpourings of certain Labour leaders, the people- of the Overseas Dominions have been ! deeply concerned at- the policy of drift adopted by the late Government as far as naval defence was concerned. Just when all seemed ready for actual operations—preliminary work in connection with developments, at Singapore, had already begun, in pursuance cf Parliament’s decision under that head—the Baldwin Government suffered disaster at. the polls. That cannot be interpreted as disapproval of its naval policy. Other issues were paramount. But i there succeeded a Labour Administration whose campaign sixx:'dies had denounced expenditure on armaments. Rather against its will, that Administration continued to spend money on defence, but with a niggard hand. It could not very well stop work on the battleships . Nelson and Rodney, which were definitely provided for in the 5-5-3 ration of The Washington agreement. But it cut the programme of eight cruisers down to five and the rest of the replacement, vessels down to two destroyers. Loin Chelmsford’s official statement showed that the scale of expenditure had been brought much belmv the" 1914- standard: in fact, it was down to wlmt it had been in 1903, before the concentration of the fleet in home waters and its expansion to meet the growing Gorman menace. Very meagre provision was made for naval works and buildings, which at £3,080,000 was £752,850 less than the expenditure in the previous year ancl more than half a million below the last pre-war figure. The Singapore base wmmade a special target to. Labour’s criticism of its predecessors, and a paltry £12,500 in the estimates was the sort, of vote that seemed meant, to add insult to injury. In the matter of oil fuel reserves, the government pleaded the- "continued pressing need tor economy”, as a reason for postponing atte-nlum to them. It cannot escape attention tliav the Labour Government's naval policy was wholly negative. It curtailed drastically the programme of Mr Baldwin’s Cabinet. Labour had got into office ere the echoes of its denunciations ot naval expenditure had died away, and only lack of courage, prevented its wiping out that expenditure altogether. But offico taught a responsibility ungucssed before. One after another, tlm Labour Ministers at the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Air Ministry, while asseverating tlnii; their fundamental opinions had not been altered, made aeknow- ; lodgment later of less hostile j views on defence; and the whole j Gabinet, at length, through Mr j

Macdonald, confessed that- there could ho for Britain no safe l ed net ion in armamenis except m association with similar action by foreign Powers. Although it is only too apparentthat it will take, lime and energy to tiring Britain’s naval strungili up 5) the standard permitted hy the Washington agreement, the British communities "vvlio stand guard at (tie outposts of tlio Empires feel less concerned, even in their present state of deloneelessness, now that a Government with an Emoire'-vismn lias been installed at Westminster.