THE NAVY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12856, 16 December 1912, Page 8

THE NAVY.

We hear a great deal aiho-ut the Navy, and" the, Imperial importance of the Navy, and the duty of the tDominions to support "the Navy, and all the rest of it;*but few people even yet realize • how tremendously important" the. iNia-vy is. We have., it is true, the >Nia.yy 'League, hat the best informed enthusiasts at Home have dropped the Navy League, in (favour of thelmperial Maritime 'League. Even Mr. Wyatt, who lectured round the Empire as a voluntary envoy of the. Navy "League, has gone over to the other'body. Lord' Charles Beredford, is as usual outspoken. "I ido ia»k, the Honsa to ibe very careful in 'believing; anythinig; the Navy League bays. The Navy League fkrures a,ro the •most misleading of anything I have ever read." But as to the Maritime League foe is just as emiphatic .in the other wiay. "As ia matter of fact, it as the Maritime League that first saw the dangers we are drifting into, and 'brought them before the puMic. We have arrived at a great crisis in our ■history; when, if we Jo not commence ■•at once to put things right, we shall be too 'late.", Lord Oharkis Beresford is no empty ■alarmist. > He is a naval man, and he knows exactly of what he speaks. All the signs point to the fact that England is nearing a critical point that will affect her destiny. Our army, iby comparison with the great armies of other European Powers, is a farce, although! ■we have the greatest empire on eartih to defend and preserve. We depend' absolutely on our Navy, and while Mr Asquith and his queer crowd are footling a«d truckling with their" molbllegislation, the Navy is seriously threatened. Germany is creeping up o,n us hand over hand. IS Germany is permitted ~to overtake us, the end of our supremacy at sea ,is in sight, and that will mean the end of our empire. Under the auspices of the Imperial Maritime League, Mr Wyiatt and Mr HortonnSmith have brought out a valuable and timely book called "Britain's Imminent Danger." The 'book costs a shilling, and is wonderful value for the raoney. The book proves that already the German Navy, if it took the initiative would be upon an -approximate equality with our own iat" the moment ■°£ impact. It proves-that in two years, *f things go on .as they are going, Germany _ will have an overwhelming superiority. It shows how the so-called Liberal Party in English politics has destroyed our naval supremacy, and ia I taking no steps to restore it. Every . point is made clearly, and ibacked by authoritative citation of facts and figures. The case made out is ta case to •prevent the loyal Britisher from sleeping easily in his bed. The matter is -one of urgent and immediate import-

ance, at this jpresent moment, while we fritter away opportunity in ia thousand silly -ways'. Ido not believe that there is anything to be gained by setting uip twopenny n-aviee >o* ou,r own,—navies that any hostile (battleship'could Mow out of the water. The thing needed is to support the Imperial Navy.