THE OLD COUNTRY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 5, 4 August 1909, Page 5

THE OLD COUNTRY.

British Dreadnoughts. In the House of Commons last week, in Committee of Supply on the shipbuilding vote, Mr McKenna (First Lord of the Admiralty) announced that after very anxious and careful examination of the conditions of shipbuilding in foreign countries, the Government had concluded that it was desirable to take all necessary steps to lay down the four contingent Dreadnoughts by April, 1910, and they would be completed by March, 1912. The announcement was received with cheers.

Continuing, Mr McKenna said that the Admiralty had now decided that one of the ships on the November programme should, instead of a battleship, be an improved cruiser, in view of the need for cruisers able to outrun or capture an enemy’s ship. He added that it was now possible to build cruisers faster and more powerful that those of the Invincible type. Mr John Dillon asked whether Germany had anticipated her programme or kept to the understanding given to the Foreign Office. Mr McKenna replied that he did not think further comparison with the shipbuilding programmes of other Powers was desirable, but he might say that Britain in 1906 had expressed an earnest desire to restrict the rapid growth of armaments in this and other countries. No individual country eould stand out by itself and restrict its armaments. Britain gave the lead in that direction, and had laid down eight large armoured ships in the past three years, during which Germany had laid eleven. It was impossible to continue on the same lines, and failing an international arrangement we were bound to take all necessary steps to secure predominance on sea, not only now, but in future. (Cheers.) He strongly urged the early laying down of the contingent Dreadnoughts. Mr J. E. Ellis (Liberal member for Rusheliffe) moved the reduction of the vote. He declared that the navy scare was dead, and it would be better to come to an agreement with the other Powers. Mr Asquith emphasised that while Mr Balfour and he had compared the shipbuilding programmes, they had done so without any idea of suggesting any indication of an impending conflict with Germany. On the contrary, he and Mr Balfour were most careful to say there was not any 7 cause for a quarrel anywhere in the world between them, and if diplomacy were conducted, as he believed it would be, wi’h mutual consideration, there was no reason why such differences should arise.

The Government, he continued, had strenuously endeavoured to reach an international arrangement, but other nations were in no mood for it. The Government had failed, buv the door was still open. Meanwhile they must deal with facts. He challenged objectors to say how they would settle the shipbuilding programme irrespective of what others were doing. It was the Government’s unanimous judgment to lay down the four contingent Dreadnoughts in April, and meanwhile to order the gun mountings and other accessories. He explained that these four ships were to be built without prejudice to the 1910 programme,

and were not connected with the offers of Dreadnoughts by the colonies. “We have,” added the Prime Minister, “all recognised and acknowledged with the utmost gratitude, besides the generosity and loyalty prompting their offers, the disposition the colonies have shown to accommodate the form their offers shall take to the real requirements of the Imperial Navy and the situation generally. We are confident that the Defence Conference will reach a result satisfactory all round.”

Mr Balfour criticised the tardiness of the Government in laying down the four extra Dreadnoughts, and denounced the Ministerial plan as utterly inadequate, but later, after Messrs John Dillon, G. N. Barnes, and J. Ramsay MacDonald had supported the motion for reduction, Mr Balfour announced that he intended voting with the Government. He had learnt, he said, that the number dissenting from the Government policy was very large, and he did not think It right to allow the impression to get abroad that tho Commons was doubtful regarding the decision to undertake further shipbuilding. Loud cheers greeted the announcement. The motion for the reduction was then put. and rejected by 280 votes to 98. Twenty-five Liberals voted for Mr Ellis’ motion. The rest of the minority consisted of Nationalists and Labourites. Mr Reginald McKenna, in reply to Mr A. H. Lee (Conservative member for Fareham), said that the contracts for the first two Dreadnoughts of the 190910 programme required the vessels to be completed by July, 1911. He further stated that the Government had information that a foreign Power was building a faster cruiser than the Invincible.

A Boom-destroyer. The destroyer Ferret, fitted with a steel-cutting invention, easily rushed a large boom made of timber, spikes, and a huge wire hawser, at full speed, in Portsmouth Harbour, cutting her way right through. It was a remarkable exploit. Mr Reginald McKenna (First Lord of the Admiralty), Mr R. B. Haldane (Minister for War), and General Nicholson (Chief of Staff) were present. Command of the Seas. In Committee of Supply in tne House of Commons last week, Mr. Askuith, in the course of an important speech describing the working of the Defence Committee, said that when Mr. Balfour formed it seven years ago considerable doubt and some apprehension was expressed as to whether it could be adapted to our ordinary administrative machinery and particularly the maintenance of separate responsibility in the War Office and Admiralty. For himself he desired to say at once, having during the past four years worked in intimate and continuous relations with the Defence Committee, that he regarded it, besides being a valuable, as an indispensable part of the administrative organisation. It was an advisory, not an executive committee, and thus while Cabinet must always be responsible for the national policy and the War Office and Admiralty must always be responsible for the execution of the policy so determined upon, the Defence Committee, did not intervene either in one or the other of these departments.

Its functions arose owing to the necessity felt in all great countries, and in none so pressingly as Great Britain, for the co-ordination of the work of the army and navy, and it was the business of the Defence Committee to study the best provision from time to time of the military and naval requirements of the Empire as a whole. Before the representatives of the dominions left the country he hoped an Opportunity would occur of inviting some of them to participate in a meeting of the Defence Committee to consider some of the problems affecting them equally With us. The committee would thus include representative men from all parts of the Empire. Portion of the committee’s work was confidential, but he might say that it included exhaustive inquiries in the first instance by sub committees on such subjects as the military needs of the Empire, with respect to the recent changes in army organisation, also as affected by the defence of India, the strategical aspects of the Firth of Clyde canal, aerial navigation, and our policy regarding the Channel tunnel. The Government also had a Colonial Defence Committee which for a long time past had been watching the colonial aspects of Imperial defence. Similarly the Government in 19C9 had established a joint naval and military committee of defence which devoted its attention to Home ports. The inquiry into Admiral Lord Charles Beresford’s allegations respecting the distribution of the fleet in Home waters had been most impartial and thorough, but the committee had not finally adopted its report, and therefore the matter in that sense was still sub judice. “But another investigation of a more Comprehensive character,” proceeded Mr. 'Asquith, “was the fresh inquiry at Lord Roberts’ instance into the possibility of an invasion. A special sub-committee, of which I was chairman, sat for nearly a year. The whole subject was minutely studied,- and the conclusions unanimously reached, after conceding the most favourable possible conditions for the hypothetical invasion, were, firstly, as long as naval supremacy is adequately assured an invasion on a large scale, such as contemplated by Lord Roberts—namely, the transport to these shores of 120,000 to 150,000 troops—is absolutely impossible. ‘ F “But, on the other hand, if we permanently lost our command of the sea, Whatever might be the strength or organisation of your military forces here at Home, even though you had an army like Germany’s it would not only be impossible for Britain to escape an invasion, but subjection by an enemy would be inevitable.

“Our second proposition was that besides a Home army sufficient to repel small sporadic raids we must have an army adequate to compel any opponent contemplating an invasion to come with So substantial a force as to make it impossible to avoid our fleet and land. Nobody would undertake the task with less than 70,000 men. I do not believe 70,000 would ever get through. That was ’our conclusion after the most careful investigation ever made.” Air Asquith, in the course of his speech, declared that the business of the Admiralty was to maintain supremacy at such a point that we could not lose "command of the sea. This statement was received with general cheers. Air Asquith continued: “And as against any reasonable possible combination, that we must hold the sea, and make invasion an impracticable event.” As to the home army, its real function Was opposition. The business of the (War Office was to have in all circumstances a properly organised and equipped force capable of dealing effectually with a possible invasion of 70.000. If both the naval and military conditions were satisfied it was the opinion of the Defence Committee that the country was safe from invasion.

Mr Balfour’s reply to Mr Asquith’s speech showed that he, like the Committee on Imperial Defence, had altered his views on the question of invasion since 1905. He emphasised the belief that the Defence Committee was absolutely right in its conclusions. New circumstances had arisen, and invasion by a force of 70,000 was a thing the Defence Committee must contemplate. The existence of the Committee of Defence would facilitate more consultation with the colonies, with a view to obtaining from them invaluable advice regarding the defence of the Empire. Sir Chas. Dilke questioned the wisdom Sf spending a large sum upon a Terri-

torial force of 400,000 men. This might prevent the necessary expenditure upon the fleet. He added that we should have to strain every nerve to meet the financial pressure necessitated by the maintenance of the fleet at great strength, and, in his opinion, a large home army was of secondary importance. Air A. 11. Lee declared Mr Asquith’s speech incomparably the most interesting and important delivered in the House this session.

Flying Over the Channel, Lieut. Hubert Latham, who met with an accident when midway across the Channel on an aeroplane last week, made another attempt to cross on July 28. Lieut. Latham started from Calais in brilliant style, and at a good speed, but gradually fell into the water off the Admiralty pier at Dover, and had to undergo surgical treatment for cuts on the face. Lieut. Latham was accorded'- an ov V tion, and much sympathy was expressed at his disappointment. His motor failed as before when he had covered 21 miles in 20 minutes.

Wright's Official Trial. Air Orville Wright, in his official trial at Washington, aeroplaned, with a passenger. for 72 minutes. President Taft was present. “The undersigned certify that Air. Latham, on his Antoinette monoplane No. 4, has, on June 5,1909, executed a flight of Ih 7m 375.” Such was an official record, signed, some weeks ago, by’ over one hundred officers at Mourmelon-le-Grand, near Chalons-sur-Marne. He was thus the first aeropianist to accomplish a lengthy flight with a monoplane. Two camps have been formed in France, and great rivalry has come into existence ■between them. The monopianists look up to M. Bleriot as their leader. He has constructed and managed any number of machines, and executed many short flights up to ten and fifteen minutes In duration, and has had some hairbreadth escapes. The biplane partisans have been taunting him with wasting his time over an impossible problem. The success of Air. Hubert Latham, a young Englishman, who has recently taken to aviation, has therefore made the monopianists quite jubilant. The distinction between the two kinds of machines is apparent from their names, but the practical consequences are very important. A flying machine w’ith two or more superimposed planes is bound to have greater steadying and supporting surface, but, on the other hand, its weight is seriously increased and the speed diminished, two planes offering more resistance. The monoplanes, as may consequently be inferred, are lighter, and can travel with greater speed. In practice, Af. Bleriot has shown that, when Air. Wright with his biplane could make at most forty miles an hour, he with his monoplane eould go at the rate of sixty. The only difficulty hitherto hag been in maintaining the monoplanes under control. They are more liable to lose their balance, and the least gust of wind or wrong steering may upset them. Mr. Hubert Latham proved, however, that they can keep up a flight indefinitely when properly -made and carefully handled.

He told his friends that he was ready to risk his neck to prove that it could be made to fly well, and that on the first opportunity he would sail over the sheds of the Chalons military camp and the trees that border it. He was as good as his word.

New Zealand's Dreadnought. SIR JOSEPH WARD ENTERTAINED. Sir Joseph Ward was entertained at luncheon by members of the House of Commons on July 31, and presented with the document bearing the original signatures of the 400 Parliamentary representatives appended to the cablegram dispatched to the New Zealand Government expressing appreciation of the Dreadnought offer. Afr. Cathcart Wason, member for Orkney, and formerly a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, presided over the gathering, which included Lady Ward, the Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith), Afr. A. J. Balfour (Leader of the Opposition), Mr. Reginald McKenna (First Lord of the Admiralty), Sir Edward Grey (Foreign Minister), Messrs. Sydney Buxton (Postmaster-General), Herbert Samuel (Chancellor of the Duchy

of Lancaster), T. J. Maonamara (Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty), Walter Long (ex-Chief Secretary for Ireland), Alfred Lyttelton (ex-Colonial Secretary), C. E. Hobhouse (Financial Secretary to the Treasury), Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. A. Bonar Law, Sir J. DieksonPoynder, Air. Henniker Heaton, Dr. F. Fitchett (Solicitor-General of New Zealand ), Air. J. A. Pease (Chief Liberal Whip), Sir W. J. Bull, Sir T. P. Whittaker, Mr. W. P. Reeves, and many other prominent Anglo-Colonials. The Chairman, in proposing the toast of “New Zealand,” said that the Dominion was proud of her native race. They possessed great wealth, and were undiminished in numbers. Though 10,000 British soldiers had failed to subject them, the Alaoris were now as loyal as any of the King’s subjects. When Sir Joseph Ward sent his famous telegram offering the New Zealand Dreadnought there must have been hovering over him the great departed spirit of the native race, to whom war was sport, and sport was war.

Air. Asquith, in presenting a framed copy of the House of Commons’ telegram to Sir Joseph Ward, said: “In a time of some anxiety New Zealand spontaneously through you, sent Great Britain the most welcome assurance of her willingness to share our common burdens, and provide flor common Imperial interests. The people of Great Britain and Ireland will never forget that splendid voluntary manifestation of cordiality, loyalty, and affection, and we trust that you will take this recognition back to Wellington as a permanent memento of that most interesting and historic occasion.”

Air. Balfour presented Sir Joseph with the album containing the original signatures to the Parliamentary telegram, which he said he hoped would be kept as a perpetual memorial of this great occurrence. It related to an epoch-making event. It was an incident which would be looked back upon by future generations whenever our great Imperial interests might be endangered as showing how, by spontaneous action, the great self-governing Dominions came forward on their own initiative, without discussion— (hear, hear) —by inspiration, as it were, to do what was required by the public necessity of the Empire, and gave a gift, that was generous and great almost beyond contemplation in relation to their means, to the common object of Imperial defence. (Cheers.) Air. Balfour, continued: “I may congratulate, not merely New Zealand, but yourself, upon having been connected with this incident, which has not merely re-echoed within the relatively narrow bounds of this land, but has produced its effect in every part of the Empire. (Cheers.) Sir Joseph Ward, who sat between Air. Asquith and Air. Balfour, received rounds of cheering on rising to reply. “The people of New Zealand,” he said, “will prize as much as I do this expression of goodwill from so many gentlemen occupying prominent positions on both sides of the Imperial Parliament. It shows, what we all know to be true, that there are occasions when political differences can be sunk in the common desire to promote Imperial interests. “In connection with the offering of the New Zealand Dreadnought, all concerned with myself in submiting the proposal to Cabinet were unanimous in confirming it. Parliament, in subsequently ratifying it, did merely what we all conceived to be our duty to the Empire, without a thought of personal or loyal advantage, or of self-interest. We had news that there was a crisis, that the naval supremacy of Great Britain was being challenged, and that, in the opinion of Imperial statesmen on both sides of politics, the situation was grave, if not critical. “Now, we have always recognised in New Zealand, as fully as you have here,” continued Sir Joseph, “that the absolute supremacy of Great Britain on the seas is essential to the safety of England, and consequently of the Empire, and therefore it imports no note of aggression against other countries. The British colonies are so scattered and distant, in many cases many thousands of miles from the heart of the Empire and from one another, that the ocean routes have become practically something in the nature of domestic highways. The safeguarding of them is the first, if not also the best, line of defence. “In these circumstances I felt, and my colleagues agreed, that though New Zealand, as a small community, could do little, what she could do that she should do, and at once. (Applause.) Hence the mode in which the offer was made, and the responsibility’ we took in making

it without first consulting which was not in session. “We claim no special credit. We did it as a matter of duty, and I fully believe that the other overseas dominions, in adopting proposals of support, though different as regards details, were moved by the same spirit. (Cheers.) I am proud to say that in the New Zealand Parliament Government and Opposition alike, by unanimously ratifying the offers of Dreadnoughts to the Imperial Government, showed in a most emphatic and unmistakable way their determination to help the Afotherland in retaining a strength in its Navy sufficient for the protection of the widespread interests of the British Empire. (Applause.)

“As regards the Defence Conference, which is now sitting,” Sir Joseph went on, “I feel assured that the outcome of its deliberations will be both practical and valuable. The overseas represent a. tives are of one mind in their desire io co-operate in any scheme of defence which does justice to the Empire as a whole, and the communities they represent. (Applause.) lu that result the necessity for isolated efforts, such as that referred to in the case of New Zealand, will not be likely to occur. It might be presumption on my part, but I venture to conjecture that, in some quarters, the attitude of the overseas dominions upon Imperial matters has not always been understood as clearly as it might have been. In our own case we have of necessity to look upon things from our standpoint and our own perspective, which is 13,090 miles, or thereabouts, from Westminster. It is obvious that our interest in many political problems that occupy you must be different from the interest you yourselves feel. We have our local concerns, which, though immeasurably less important than yours, are to us what yours are to you. (Applause.) “Theresult is that many political questions that excite the liveliest interest here are regarded by us, I will not say with, indifference, but certainly with less interest than by yourselves. For example, your Budget, which falls like rain on the just and the unjust and is the centre of a controversy conducted with such conspicuous vivacity—(laughter and applause)—we watch with interest. But it is the impersonal interest with which a spectator would contemplate a dental operation. (Laughter and applause.) “To change the figure of speech,” continued Sir Joseph Ward, “in our long perspective your local or internal differences are blurred. What stands out clearest is the relation of the Empire to the outside world. This explains and justifies the strong Imperialistic spirit which undoubtedly runs through New Zealand and the overseas dominions. In my judgment, this spirit was, if not created, at all events stirred into strong and vigorous life by the disasters in the earlier stages of the South African war. “Till then the domestic relations between Great Britain and her colonies were more those of stepmother and stepchildren than anything else. Aforetime, it was a settled tradition of British statesmanship that the colonies were so many troublesome excrescences on the body politic—nuisances in time of peace; expensive in time of war. This view reflected itself in public opinion and matters of administration, hence there was irritation and friction on both sides. The colonies were ‘pigeon-holed’ by Downingstreet as far as possible. Failing that, they were snubbed, while as for Downingstreet—well, it was not a name to conjure with in the colonies.

“Traditions die hard,” he continued, “and the one mentioned was no exception. Traditions suffered severely in the South African War, when, to the bewilderment and delight of the military authorities, the colonies volunteered their help. But it did not die there, or the recent New; Zealand Dreadnought offer would scarcely have aroused such astonishment and gratification throughout the United Kingdom as it appears to have done. That any assistance to the Home Government seems something to make the Home-bred oversea dominion should volunteer any Briton rub hi s eyes and ask if he is dreaming. Nay, will you think me rude if I say, in the fact of your presence and mine here to-day a microscopic examination might possibly disclose some traces of that same unhallowed tradition.

“Be this as it may, I am hopeful that it will not survive the Defence Conference, if, as I firmly believe will be the result of that Conference, the oversea dominions show by their acts that they are ready and willing to bear some share of the great and growing burden of Imperial defence. (Applause.) “This will involve other but these will come in time, and by d*

grees, given a wise and prudent statesmanship on all hands, the Empire will develop on broad, safe lines, giving a base for once which will stand four-square to all the winds that blow. I read, with jnuch pleasure, Mr Asquith’s announcement that it is contemplated to have colonial representation on the Imperial Defence Committee, and Mr Balfour’s concurrence augurs well for unanimity in this important direction. I cannot but feel that if the scattered dominions are to join in a practical, working, Empire naval defence system, the natural corollary in some suitable form must be representation, and what «hape that should finally take is a subject worthy pf the attention of your statesmen.” Sir Edward Grey said that, after sueh a speech. Sir Joseph Ward’s presence brought the colonies and the Motherland into the true Imperial perspective. Therefore, they doubly owed thanks to Mr iWason for providing the opportunity of meeting Sir Joseph. Lady Ward, he suggested to the chairman, should be presented with a replica of what had been presented to Sir Joseph Ward.