THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1909. A WRONG VIEW.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3149, 29 March 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 29, 1909. A WRONG VIEW.

German activity in the work of building a navy is certainly exercising a beneficial effect in more ways than one. It has aroused England into a sense of realising what madness it would be to allow the German Navy to challenge British supremacy on the high seas; it has allowed the King's oversea dominions an opportunity of showing their strong patriotism, and undoubted loyalty to' the Empire; and it is, also, resulting in attention being very pointedly and forcibly drawn to the startling inadequacy of the strength of the British Army in comparison with the work that it might be called upon to do. In a remarkable article, recently published, Major-General F. S. Russell, C.M.G., discusses whether invasion of England is possible, and the pic+ure that he draws of England's land forces should attract widespread attention. General Russell, in the course of the article, leads one to suppose that the completely unsatisfactory state of the Home Army is partially due to the-continual utterances of various Admirals that the safety of Great Britain rests entirely with the Navy. These writers, says General Russell, and a great many adherents of what is termed the "blue-water" school, appear to thank that a slur has been cast on the naval service by those who do not wish to risk all their eggs intone basket, who are not satisfied in trusting to only one line of defence, however efficient that may be. One of these Admirals complains of the "bogey" being revived that the fleet might be decoyed away; another, in reply to a suggestion of the possibility that the main body of our fleet might not be m the vicinity of the North Sea at the critical moment, states that no Minister of the Crown fit for that position would dream of allowing the fleet to be absent at such a,time. So generally is this view approved of that ths writer declares that "it seems almost futile, to reply to such arguments. Has it not occurred in history that our fleet, comnanded by the most brilliant naval :ommander on record, was decoyed iway when an invasion was threatined? Where was our fleet at the

time of the Dogger Bank incident? When the secret history of this period is written, it will be realised how near we then were to war, perhaps even invasion. Moreover, does

any sailor —or, indeed, sane personwish our ships to be tethered, like a dog at his kennel, to these shores? The Navy i 3 essentially an offensive force. If kept on the d'tensive, it loses nearly all its value, and is subject to the risks and dangers which proved the destruction of the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. Could any position be more pitiable than that of a British Admiral who, knowing that a hostile fleet was on the sea a fleet which [it was his business to follow, fight and destroy—was ordered by the Ministry of the day not to leave the North Sea for fear that an expeditionary force should be landed on our shores? Are the other portions of our island kingdom, are all the outlying dependencies of our vast Empire, to be left entirely without protection? is our commerce to be harried and practically destroyed, because, forsooth, we are so foolish, so indolent, or so parsimonious that our land defences are neglected and there is no organised force to protect our hearths and homes? I maintain that those the roost jealous for the repute and honour of our Navy should do all in their power to encourage the British nation to establish a thoroughly efficient system of land deferlce, so far as that is possible, ii only to free the Navy to pursue its proper vocation, to act on a vigorous offensive and to strike sudden and unexpected blows on the most vulnerable points of our enemy. These Admirals,' as they are irreverently called, by advocating the 'blue-water' theory in season and out of season, and thus dissuading the people of this country from at once undertaking the burden of home defence, are doing their own service what cannot be otherwise than irreparable injury."