THE NAVY.

Thames Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 8606, 10 March 1897, Page 2

THE NAVY.

It is obvious from the proceedings of the Home Parliament that almost all members are now agreed as to the urgent necessity of strengthening the navy. Mr Goschen and Sir Charles Dilke may quarrel in public as to whether the money is to be spent in battleships or torpedo-destroyers, but the plain issue of expenditure or no expenditure seems to have dropped out, everyone admitting that our naval defences must be improved to keep pace with the extension of foreign armaments. From many quarters this admission has been wring only through a succession of war alarms, which alone have proved sufficiently j potent to break down the Socialistic I hatred of big and costly wararmarnents. | With the Little England and Socialist sections of British opinion, it is not uncommon to hear our foreign policy denounced as being carried on in the interests of capitalists who have foreign interests to protect, etc.;. and this bitter spirit found uncompromising expression in an article which appeared about a year ago in a Collectivist newspaper, wherein the-writer, commenting on the fact that the last " record " Bndget surplus was to be devoted to naval expenditure, headed his effusion with the legend: " Five millions down the sink." But though there are still many people who deplore the manner in which the taxpayers' money is wasted c^ewn the " sink " of armament maintenance, there are few who do not recognise the dire necessity, however distasteful that necessity may be. It is simply a matter of national existence. In our modern history, no one has recognised more than Mr Gladstone what a fearful burden the defence vote is on the shoulders of the British taxpayer, and none has looked forward with such a longing for a general reduction in European armaments. But now that France, Russia, and Germany are pushing ahead in the race for supremacy, leaving Britain no choice but to pay or be beaten, even the G.0.M,, erratic as his remarks sometimes are, has not raised a word of opposition to the feeding of this " national sink." In another column we publish a highly interesting contemporary article bearing on the subject of naval expenditure. The evident conclusion is that if the Continental Powers are endeavoring to make the pace in turns, British industry and foi'eign trade must contribute a larger proportion for their own protection. And it is the duty of the Admiralty to expend the money to the greatest advantage—whether in ships of the line, smaller waft, or naval reserves.