NAVAL DEFENCE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLII, Issue 20474, 20 July 1936, Page 12

NAVAL DEFENCE

NEW ZEALAND’S POSITION ADDRESSES TO BE GIVEN Under the auspices of the Canterbury Branch of the Navy League a series of public meetings will be held in Geraldine, Tlmaru and Waimate on July 20, 21 and 22 to discuss the defence of the Empire with particular reference to New Zealand. Speakers will include Air-Marshall Sir Robert Clark Hall, K.8.E., C.M.G., D. 5.0., Commander G. H. Dennistoun, D. 5.0., and Commander A. D, Boyle. A short moving picture programme also will be shown. Lord Lloyd of Dolobran, president of the Navy League in England, says a Navy League circular, has stated: “The Royal Navy is a form of insurance which costs a great deal of money and is, therefore, subject to attack by those who do not appreciate its value, or whose pockets are more important than their patriotism. As it is the best defence of the British Empire, it is also the subject of attack by the enemies of that Empire who seek to undermine the faith of the British people by constant and insidious propaganda. These various streams of hostility to the Royal Navy find their way into politics. There have been parties in the recent history of the Mother Country who have proposed to reduce the Navy in order to reduce the burden of taxation. To support that they have disguised that dangerous economy by suggesting that the Navy is unnecessary, or that it is superannuated by the League of Nations. This is nothing new. Long before the League of Nations was invented, the party which held power in England laughed at the danger of foreign at-

tack and refused to build the battleships considered by experts as requisite to the national safety. It was to counter such propaganda and to awaken British people to the great historical truth that the Navy was essential to their existence that the Navy League was founded. Such is the simple explanation of the Navy League. It exists to educate our young people and our old people, not in England only but throughout the Empire, in this vital lesson, that the British Empire could not exist without the sheltering wings of the Royal Navy.” “The British Navy is (or was) the greatest influence for the preservation of world peace which exists. Its duties are:—(a) Defence of the British Isles against aggression which implies primarily a guarantee of the food and oil fuel supplies. (b) Defence of Dominions and Dependencies of the British Empire which implies, primarily, the prevention of foreign usurpation. (c) The maintenance of British Interests abroad on the occasion of international troubles or of local disorder, and the assistance of victims of disasters due to natural causes, e.g., Egypt, Palestine, Madeira, Yokohama, and Hawke’s Bay (earthquake). “It is natural that the enemies of Great Britain and of the Empire should make every endeavour to whittle down the Navy and destroy our sea power, and a considerable part of the propaganda directed towards the milateral disarmament of Great Britain In the past can be traced to such sources (from London Office notes). The extraordinary vulnerability of the British Empire must be emphasised. The 45 millions of the population of the whole Empire, and the safety from foreign aggression of the whole of this Empire population rests upon the basis of our sea power. The British Navy with its under water and air auxiliaries should be strengthened and the Merchant Navy encouraged because, between them, they bind the Empire together. “The British Navy being a purely defensive force, and peace being the principal interest of the British Empire, the security of the Empire guaranteed by the Navy has always been a powerful influence for international peace, but we are losing our influence for peace as it becomes realised by foreigners that we are no longer secure. This has been proved by recent events in the Mediterranean. Since 1911, the Navy League in New Zealand has been urging the necessity for New Zealand in conjunction with other overseas Dominions and Dependencies of the Empire to contribute a fair share towards the cost of the Naval Defence of the Empire and there has been an improvement but New Zealand’s contribution is still only about one third of the amount the British taxpayer is called up to pay. Australia is doing irore than New Zealand but other Dominions are not doing as much. The air defences of England are being strengthened because she is within bombing distance of the Continent, but if the Empire continues its present slow and inadequate provision of warships and men, war will come and defeat will be likely. We shall then become the slaves of some more virile nation—and our fate will be deserved—but it is not pleasant to contemplate such an eventuality.”