An Attempted Navy Scare.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue II, 12 January 1901, Page 58

An Attempted Navy Scare.

It would be interesting to know whether there was ever a time when, in the opinion of a pessimistic section of the publie, the navy was no, "going to the dogs.” The Nary League did most admirable service some years ago in waking the public up to the consciousness that the Admiralty had allowed the navy to fall far below the lowest requisite standard of one to two; but having seen its own programme carried out, and England placed in a position to overmaster any two allied Powers, the League might have rested on its laurels for a span. Instead of this, it has commenced a policy of shrieking wolf, wolf, and insisting in season and out, that we are unprepared and under manned, that our ships are obsolete, and that in every respect our navy is in a most parlous state. The latest manifesto sets forth the sensational question, "Have we lost the command of the sea ?” The question is, as the "Times” has pointed out, a foolish one. It could not be answered till war had been prosecuted for some time, for naval battles are not won with ships end guns alone, but by heads and hands. Strategy wins naval battles just as surely as it does battles on land, and if our "handy men” have not a knowledge of naval strategy, it is assuredly not for want of work and practice. The contention that we are not now equal to a coalition of any two Powers is not tenable; all statistics and figures prove to the contrary ; bnt more important still, no combination of Powers could ever furnish forth men so practised in the use of their armaments as the British. It is of course possible that a coalition might exist of more than two antagonistic naval Powers, but to attempt to prepare for so unlikely a contingency would be both foolish and abortive. To keep ceaseless and careful watch on the navy, to see that it is 1.-pt up to the highest possible standaril, is the duty of us all, and we are grateful to the Navy League for undertaking that duty for us. But if that body is going to become hysterical, and to attempt to frighten us with bogeys of impossible coalitions, it will soon bring itself into contempt, and the days of its usefulness will be at an end.