FOR NEAR FUTURE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 9

FOR NEAR FUTURE

BRITISH NAVAL BUILDING MR. CHURCHILL’S ADVOCACY Received March 18, 9.13 p.m. LONDON, March 18. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr. Winston Churchill expressed surprise that the Admiralty was satisfied that we had enough destroyers with the 40 being built. He said he should have liked to see the number doubled. He advocated destroyers because they were quickly built. Mr. Churchill expressed the opinion that the present tension would not last seven or eight years. The world could not stand the strain. There would be either a climax or a settlement with the happy release of disarmament. He hoped the Admiralty would watch the gap between the limit 10,000-ton cruisers, of which Germany had five, and the 25,000-ton limit for battleships and battlecruisers. There was a danger there from Japan, because the construction of 15,000-ton vessels with 12-inch guns would render the whole series of British and American cruisers obsolete, necessitating a detachment of battlecruisers. Mr. Churchill urged a speeding up in the construction of vessels that could be launched in six to eighteen months instead of consuming our energy in building battleships that would not be available for five or six years. The policy should be to provide ample naval power for the near future. Referring to the Mediterranean, Mr. Churchill said that the measures being taken on the island of Pantellaria were certainly not for our benefit, but he said that lhe British Navy estimates of £123,000,000 and Italy’s £20,000,000 concluded that our navy was stronger in relation to Europe