"ENGLAND EXPECTS."

Observer, Volume XL, Issue 8, 25 October 1919, Page 2

"ENGLAND EXPECTS."

N.Z. Sailors of the Future

IT is peculiarly appropriate that Lord Jellicoe's report should be before the colonial public at a time recalling Nelson and his victory at Trafalgar. Trafalgar Day, October 21, is the day of all others within the Empire when its citizens should be devoutly thankful to Nelson and to the genius that decided at Trafalgar the destiny.of the race. That great sailor, Lord Fisher, has said that Jellicoe has the Nelsonic attributes and at this time of the year it is most fitting that people should understand that the Navy, which was vital in Nelson's day, is even more vital now.

lii his report Lord Jellicoe has remarked that when the Great War broke out, no action had been taken in New Zealand in recruiting and training officers or men for the navy. It was a phase of defence hardly ever discussed, the only matter of discussion being the small one of our per capita contribution—a feeble thing to the Royal Navy. Lord Jellicoe goes to the weakness at once. He does not commit the sin of "talking in ships" until he has talked in men. His. suggestions not only provide for a self-contained division ol the Royal Navy, but for supplying this fleet with personnel from our own flesh and blood.

No point that the Admiral of the Fleet discusses is so vital as this. The suggestion is that the New Zealand division should be relatively; independent, a sea fighting machine, efficient enough and strong enough to make it useful even were this an independent country, not relying on the power of the great Imperial Navy. In plain terms," the Britisn Admiralty says: "If you»want to be safe, you must help yourselves. Ihe new order is the penalty of nationhood and development. New Zealand lias become highly important, net only to the Empire, but to other nations which are modernising thenviews and which think less m ships than in men, women .children— ana food.

It has become our duty as a people depending wholly en the sea for our safety to take our full share in our own protection. The vital part of our clear dxity is the supply of Men. I* is insufficient to hire men or to help by a small tax ,the paimt bill of the Royal Navy. It is neoessary, as Lord Jellicoe shows, to create a sentiment, not only for the British Navy generally, but for the New Zealand Division of it; to "see" our own shipfi, but more particularly our own New Zealand sailors, and to devote more thought and genius to the establishment of protective ships and their men, than to the establishment of land armies which will be useless if the Navy fails.

The New Zealand Army took the field without any regimental traditions, but it was actuated by the traditions of the Blood. As far as the establishment of a New Zealand Navy is. concerned, the traditions are ready made by sailors of our own blood. The spirit of emulation manifested by colonial troops in the Great War was one of the sharpest spurs to achievements, and future emulation between Dominions branches of the Poval Navy and their Naval grandmother will be the basis of their success. It will be insufficient for young New Zealand to be proud of British sailors. They must become British sailors themselves.

The Admiralty says to New Zealand "Here are the ships—manman thorn, and when the ships are obsolete, buy some more." A powerful navy is the only insurance against outside aggression—and we shall have to pay for safety, firstly with Men, secondly with ships, and thirdly with money.

The mission of Lord Jellicoe to Tndia and the British Dominions is a direct reminder to people who expect perpetual peace, that there is to be no such thing and that even if the war is over, international envy is not dead. The published report of the Admiral of the Fleet is of course not the whole story and it depends on what Lord Jellicoe has privately written to the various Governments ruling in the Pacific whether these Governments will consider the proposed great changes in Navy matters vital. The Prime Minister obviously regards Lord Jellicoe's private communications as of the utmost importance, having said "that members and their confetitueints would understand when they read the report the very serious position an which they might be placed in years to come, and it was not too soon now to prepare for possibilities."

One gathers from a perusal of Lord Jellicoe's report that there is no hope of everlasting peace, that the high authorities do not expect the death of international covetousness within the next century or any century succeeding it, that we shall have'to- fight for the privilege of remaining in this beautiful and fertile land—and that despite the present refusal of the Government to invite large numbers of new people to this country, that future safety lies in Men, Men, and more Men. There are Men, Men, and more Men, as the sands upon the seashore a few days steam from New Zealand, and the time will come as surely as the daylight comes when the Nelson signal of Trafalgar Day will be applicable to the sailors of New Zealand as it was to the men of Nelson s fleets—"England expects that every man this day will do his duty."