THE IMPERIAL DEFENCES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6239, 16 May 1888, Page 3

THE IMPERIAL DEFENCES.

♦ MEETING IN LONDON. Lord Wolseley and Lord Salisbury. IBT ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.- COPYRIGHT.] [Bpioial xo Pbxss Association. j CBeoeived May 13, at 10.30 a.m.*] 1 LONDON, Mat 15. A meeting o£ merchants and bankers has been held to consider the national defences. Lord Charles Beresf ord, Sir George Elliott, Captain Colomb, and Messrs W. A. Hornby and Thomas Mayne, M.P.'s, attended. Those present expressed pleasure at the country awakening to the inadequacy of the fleet, and said that an invasion at the present time would result in a loss to the whole Empire. In the House of Lords, Lord Wolseley complained that the attack made upon him by the Marquis of Salisbury was unwarranted, and he disowned any connection with an article which appeared in the Daily Telegraph. Referring to his afterdinner speech, he denied that he had attacked the Government, and explained that he could not have charged thsi Government with negligence, as they had done much to improve the defences of the country. He reiterated his statement that the Army and Navy were weak, and that the defences both at Home and abroad were defective and unsatisfactory as to equipments. The organisation was also bad. The Marquis of Salisbury, in accepting Lord Wolseley's disavowal, saidsthat the protest he had entered waa justified, and he hoped that in thft future charges of such a nature would be made in Parliament.