NAVAL DEFENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10631, 29 November 1912, Page 1

NAVAL DEFENCE.

- THE SUGGESTED ARRANGEMENT WITH AUSTRALIA. NAVY LEAGUE'S VIEWS. DASHING THE HOPES OF AUCKLAND. [FItOM OUR COESE3PONDEVT.J AUCKLAND, November 28. " The proposal that New Zealand should join in creating a small Australian fleet is one that 1 believe would never be accepted by the people of New Zealand/' said Mr W. J. iSapier, ex-M.P., and president of the Navy League, when seen on the subject by an interviewer. Mr Napier went on to express the opinion that if tho dominion contributed, say, £1,000,000 annually towards the up-keep of the Australian navy the substitution of the word Australasian would coiiler very In.Lie benefit upon New Zealand, and would be but the forerunner of a determined attempt to secure the absorption of Now Zealand politically in Australia.

" Our true destiny is to remain an integral portion of the Empire, and there is no reason why .there should not continue to be a Pacific squadron with Auckland as the naval base in tho South Pacific," he said. "I should abhor to place the matter on parochial grounds, yet Aucklanders must at least remember that the adoption of Admiral King-Hall's suggestion would mean tho banishment of Imperial ships from our waters and the dashing of all our hopes of making this port a base for the Imperial Navy: All indications point to a. desperate struggle for naval supremacy between Britain and Germany in the North Sea, and German ships are being built to fight there. Their coal carrying capacity is only sufficient to take them a short distance from Germany. That so, how futile would it be for us to have a quarter-share in half a dozen protected cruisers and a flotilla of submarines, when if Germany triumphed our harbours would certainly be conquered without the firing of a shot in southern waters. It is through the Imperial Navy alone that our freedom can be preserved. .."Those who talk about a Japanese or a Chinese invasion are speaking without proper information. Every student of Japanese and Chinese conditions knows that Japan will have enough to do for fifty years with her newly acquired Eastern possessions, and that China will take at least fifty years to be in an economic position to build a navy. One of the highest authorities, writing in the last number of the ' Nineteenth Century,' shows that tho fears of ill-informed persons of a Chinese invasion ar© merely a ridiculous chimera. We have nothing to fear from the East. Our potential foe' is Germany, and she, if the .time unhappily'comes, will be" "fought not around Sydney Karbc.ur, but a few miles from tho mouth of the Baltic. I trust, therefore, thero will be no coquetting with Mr Andrew Fisher's idea, supported evon as it is by Admiral KingHall. We must definitely pronounce for the continuance of the existing arrangement of a cash contribution to the Imperial Navy, Auckland to be a sub-base for the Pacific fleet.

" I think, however, that our contribution should be increased to at least £250,000 annually. By this I refer, of courso, to our direct contribution, irrespective of what interest we are paying in respect of the Dreadnought gift. We made that gift, and there is an end of it. The mere fact that w© borrowed the money is no concern of the Imperial Government. The sum of £250.000 would only mean 5s per head of the population, as against 20s paid by every man, woman and child in Great Britain. Our trade this year will probably be about £50.000,000, so that it is but an insurance premium of about £ per cent, a risk which no insurance company would accept. " T would like to sav this " concluded Mr Napier, "If Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand created a Pacific fleet controlled by a Pacific Defence Committee. with each of those States 'contributing pro rata to its upkeen. that would bo a practicable proposition, and cne which the people of this country 'might perhaps be induced to accept."

MR MASSEY RETICENT. [Per Press Association ] AUCKLAND, November 28. When spoken to this morning respecting the probability of a rearrangement of the naval defence scheme in dominion .waters, tho Prime Minister said it was impossible at present for. him to discuss tho situation publicly, beyond saying that there was a distinct feeling in New Zealand that the present arrangement with the Imperial Government was inadequate. As to what would be dono he could only say that nothing v. , 0uld > bo done without due and proper consideration, in fact nothing could be done without an amendment of the present Act, which, means that tho whole position must be thoroughly discussed bv Parliament before any now course was adopted. "By that time Mr Allen will have returned after having consulted with the Imperial authorities, and we shall be in a position to take the country more closely into our confidence," declared Mr Massey.