The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1913. THE CANADIAN NIVAL QUESTION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12878, 27 March 1913, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 1913. THE CANADIAN NIVAL QUESTION.

While New Zealanders are eagerly

awaiting the nrrival of the battleship vtich the Dominion has presented to

tho Mother Country, the two great

political pai'ties in Canada are engaged in a bitter quarrel over the offer made ry "the Canadian Prime Minister to contrilvute three battleships to the Imperial Navy. Tho Canadian 'Ministry secured the ;passage of tke 'Appropriation Bill,

authorising the Expenditure of tlin

sciyon million pounds required for tho proposed three Dreadnoughts, but it 'ia* been less fortunate .with the Navy L'.i'il, wliich "sauctions the 'details'" of "the

V .scheme. Ever stnc<> Mr. Borcten made thtv offer— aii ofTer, which aroused the enthusiasm of the Einprro—tho Oppos-k Ih>1! under the leadership of Sir Wilfrid L.imrier has been engaged in a earupivign of fierce dciiunciiationl Sir Wilfrid JLaarier and - ills supporters havo nsed every artifice of obstruction jin the Canadian Pai'li.imenfc, and they stonewalled -.the.Navy. Bill so!obstinately that; tiujy^vtio ahln 16 prolong one sitting'o? tl^? Houso-for 123.1ioui^s. .'indeed, they would appear to hav-e rivaJled even th* hitherto Tinsiirpassecl' United States Congress and the Irish Nationalists in the dove of Mr. Biggar and 'his confederates Tho alternative proposals of Si.fv Wilfrid Lanricr and Mr. Borden ara no 5 neeossarily antagonistic in pti!.-ciple. The Canadian Prime. (Minister desires that immediate assistance I shall be given by Canada to th« Roynl ;:^>.vj"'.;-'-- r/Sir Wilfrid Laurier contends ! thafc.tho/Jnost. effective method by' ■ .w-Jbich Imperial interests generally, as i well as the needs of Canada, can be met with regard t<» naval defence is by ■the creation of a local naval unit on the lines of the fAtfstralian ileet, locally built, manned, and mo.int3.ined. Mr. , Kor-den does not assert that this may not bo necessary in the future. But he con-tends,.not- without force], that shipbuilding yards cannot be constructed n: n day, and that although a Dreadrought may bo built in two years, it teijiiircjs years of training' before tho" 11 (juisito numbej- of officers and men can ■•;••' obtained. In ibis Contention he has I ho backing of Mr. Winston Churchill, as: expressed in a memorandum which I.c forwarded to Mr. Borden some timo

Hgo. Sir Wilfrid Laiirier recently made v public staten;ent to the eifect that Iho object of the Opposition etonewall

pud of his resistance to th c Borden programme is,- not to block the offer of \i-arships to England, but to ensure that the vessels if they are built shall be

builfc in Canada. In his memorandum to Mr. Border., the First Lord cf tho Admiralty points out that warships built in Canada would cost^ .about 30 pflr cent, more than if built in England, li.at it would take five years to erect nil adequate plant for the construction ol' Dreadnoughts in Canada, that it

v.ould cost £15,000,000, and that unless

Canada meant to build a number ot Dreadnoughts every year the outlay would not be justilkd. Mr. Churchill has bo?n bitterly assailed both by. tile Liberals in Canada and th e Radicais at liomo, who have united in deficribing his. memorandum* as an attempt to inierforo between the pqlitioal parties in the Dominion. It. seems to us, howcvrr, that tho advip c tendered by Mr

Churchill was, under the circumstances,

fully justified. It is to be regretted from the wider patriotic and Imperial point of view that it has not been possiblo for the-'two great parties in the Dominion to unite in supporting <i joint scheme for navai , defence. Colon:-] M'Loan, a prominent Liberal member,

in tho .'purso of the debates on tho Bill, loeently'-ox^reasfid <-i view in, this connection which nui-H bo .shared by a vet.v r-rmz'ulA-ahUi body of 'public opinion n Ciuwia. " Let u.s no longer," he raid, nv.ikoa football of th e Canadian naval

f.orviw and Impanel assistance

r'n^land ali uvattem conncct<x] with or affecting the X«vy .and the Army aro M-Hk-d by the two groat 'parties in a fair and amicable spirit. Lot u.s forliive and forgfit th c past, .a.nd start Ktjup.ro togctho- on a plan of se-tfcle-n'"»L" This'is, undotibtodly, thecour.se ■"which ought -;o be .adopted, for it is t nly by loyal and concerted action in ilio all-important matter of defence fkat tho well-being of the Empire can b; assured.