LORD BERESFORD'S SCATHING CRITICISM.

West Coast Times, 19 June 1912, Page 3

LORD BERESFORD'S SCATHING CRITICISM.

BRITAIN’S DEFENCE SCHEME DENOUNCED. fßi TELEGRAPH—PER PRESS ASSOCIATION ] LONDON, Ju-13 IS. Admiral Lord Charles Berosford, in a letter to, the newspapers declares that the new allocation of the fleet means that the Government is determined to abandon the naval defence of the Mediterranean, which is the main link in the defence’of tho Empire and was going to rely on a system of ah Lance which had always proved disastrous. Germany holds England glued to tho narrow seas, while the flank of the Empire was exposed to Italian and Austrian surprise. During the decade, declared Lord Charles, six out of the thirteen naval bt sos had been dismantled and the garrisons of others had been reduced The fleet was now short of 20,000 men.