The Examiner. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 4. DOES BRITANNIA REALLY RULE THE WAVES?

Woodville Examiner, Volume XIX, Issue 3303, 4 September 1901, Page 2

The Examiner. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 4. DOES BRITANNIA REALLY RULE THE WAVES?

» Those privileged to participate in the royal celebrations in Melbourne will remember the sensation that was caused when the mammoth Russian oraißer Gromoboi steamed into Hobson's Bay, and the eagerness with which visitors from all parts availed themselves of the opportunity to inspect this modern sea monster. Amidst the universal jubilation it probably never occurred to anyone to reflect that, had the Czar of Russia been capable of such treachery, this Russian 20-knot armoured cruiser, with her four Bin quick-firing guns, her 16 6in, 6 4.7 in, and 20 Biu could have easily mopped up the obsolete and under - commissioned Royal Arthur and her consorts, the Archer, Katoomba, Mildura, Porpoise, Pylades, Ringarooma, and Torch. Fortunately, however, as Mr Arnold White points out in the National Review, the Czar is noted for his pacific tendencies, and, therefore, there was little danger of Melbourne and Sydney being laid under contribution, of the Australian squadron under Admiral Beaumont being sunk or burnt, and of the Date and Duchess being conducted to Vladivostock and taken as hostages to Irkutsk or some other inaccessible Siberian pleasure resort. Laughable aB such a picture may appear, the truth underlying it is the question of British naval supremacy, which is of the utmost import to thiß colony. ivjr White inauires whether it can be the wish of the taxpayers of the United Kingdom that the Admiralty should embark upon the next naval war as the War Office entered upon tbe Boer campaign. New Zealand should answer this question by adopting the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Federation, to the effect that the New Zealand Government should co-operate with the Commonwealth in increasing the annual subsidy paid to tbe Imperial authorities in respect of the Australian squadron on consideration that the squadron be increased and ships of a high class provided. That the matter is a serious one is evident from Mr White's statements, which go to show that if it came to a tesl, it would be found that Great Britain no longer ruled the waves. Many years ago, when England held command of the sea, the surface of the planet was divided into nine commands. In 1901 the British .Navy is etill split up into nine equadron?, but is strong nowhere and wt ak everywhere. The relative strength of the Australian squadron has been referred to, the China squadron under Admiral Seymour is greatly outnumbered by a maritime combination not only possible, but certain, if England had to fight the Chinese question in Chinese seas. In North American waters, in the East Indies, in the Pacific, and on tbo southeast coast of America, the allocation of Britain's naval strength is such that nowhere is it

supreme, but everywhere alike it is weak and outmatched. In the Mediterranean Admiral Fisher's 10 battleships are confronted by 14 French vessels of the same class, while Russia has one on the Levant and nine in the Black Sea. Ten of Britain's battleships are armed with muzzle-loading guns, and £991,000 has just been spent on the Dreadnought, an obsolete muzzle-load-ing ship. The United States, Japan, and other nations have recently bought modern warships iu England, and yet Britain cannot get any for her own defence. And, ag if to take away any consolation in the opinion so fondly cherished that the calibre of our Jack Tars is superior to that of any other nation, Mr White says that the paupers in the London workhouses are better fed than are our bluejackets. He sums up the situation by declaring that " we no longer possess supremacy at sea, because we stint our fleets of material, do not ooncentrate where strength is needed, and yet require oar admirals and captains to aot as if they were adequately provided with the best munitions of modem warfare." Unless Mr White is an alarmist, and his past reputation Ecarcely warrants such an assumption, Britain's naval supremacy is endangered by shortage of ships, obsolete munition, and disregard of the welfare of her bluejackets.