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tion of obsolete types of ships. Upon Mr. Borden's acceptance of office, the naval ques- 

 tion became one of renewed interest. Mr. Borden stated that in his view the question 

 of permanent co-operation between the Dominion and the rest of the Empire ought to be 

 fully debated, and that the Canadian people should be given an opportunity of pro- 

 nouncing upon it ; pains would be taken to ascertain in the meantime what were the real 

 conditions confronting the Empire. In pursuance of this object, Mr. Borden, with 

 several of his colleagues, visited London in July 1912, and were cordially welcomed by 

 Mr. Asquith's government, who enabled them, at meetings of the Imperial Defence 

 Committee and otherwise, to obtain all the information available as to the problems of 

 British foreign policy and the naval situation as it presented itself to the British Admiral- 

 ty. The proposals which the Canadian government founded on the understanding 

 thus arrived at were left, however, to be made public first in the Dominion Parliament 

 after it met in November. 



Mr. Borden's speech on December 5, 1912 must always be historic in the relationship 

 between Canada and the Mother-country. It was notable for announcing two steps 

 forward in a common Imperial policy. In the first place his " Bill to Authorize Meas- 

 ures for Increasing the effective Naval Forces of the Empire "proposed to contribute 

 7,000,000 ($35,000,000) for the construction and equipment of three first-class battle- 

 ships, to be under the control of the British Admiralty as part of the Royal Navy, sub- 

 ject to arrangements for their being at the disposal of the Canadian government if ever 

 a separate Canadian Navy were established. And in the second place, by the agree- 

 ment of the Imperial government to include a Canadian Minister as one of the permanent 

 members of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the principle was recognised that, if the 

 Dominions took their share in Imperial defence they must also have a share in determin- 

 ing Imperial policy. 



The proposal for an " emergency contribution " of three battleships to the British 

 Navy was founded on a memorandum (published in England on Dec. 5th,. as a Parlia- 

 mentary paper) drawn up by the Admiralty for the information of the Canadian govern- 

 ment as to the existing international situation from a naval point of view; and Mr. 

 Borden read this out in the course of his speech. It is given in full elsewhere in the 

 YEAR-BOOK (see Part I. sect, i, " The World's Navies ")' and need not here be re- 

 peated. But the view taken by the Canadian government can best be shown by quot- 

 ing the salient passages of Mr. Borden's speech. 



As regards the vital need of naval security for the very existence of the Oversea 

 Dominions as part of the British Empire, and the grave danger to that security indicated 

 by the relative decline in the power of the British navy, owing to the growth of other 

 navies, Mr. Borden said: 



"This Empire is not a great military power, and it has based its security in the past, as 

 in the present, almost entirely on the strength of its. Navy. A crushing defeat upon the 

 high seas would render the British Islands, or any Dominion, subject to invasion by any 

 great military Power; loss of such a decisive battle by Great Britain would practically 

 destroy the United Kingdom, shatter the British Empire to its foundations, and change 

 profoundly the destiny of its component parts. ... .There is, therefore, grave cause for 

 concern when once the naval supremacy of. the Empire seems on the point of being success- 

 fully challenged. 



" The great outstanding fact which arrests our attention in considering the existing condi- 

 tions of naval power is this. Twelve years ago the British Navy and the British Flag were 

 predominant in every ocean of the. world and along the shores of every continent. To-day 

 they are predominant nowhere except in the North Sea. The paramount duty of ensuring 

 safety in home waters has been fulfilled by withdrawing or reducing squadrons in every part 

 of the world, and by concentrating nearly all the effective naval forces in close proximity to 

 the British Islands. In 1902 there were 55 British warships on the Mediterranean station; 

 to-day there are 19. There were 14 on the North American and West Indies station; to-day 

 there are three. There were three on the south-east coast of South America; to-day there 

 is one. There were 16 on the Cape of Good Hope station; to-day there are three. There 

 were eight on the Pacific station; to-day there are two. There were 42 on the China station; 

 to-day there are 31. There were 12 on the Australian station; to-day there are eight. There 

 were ten on the East Indies station; to-day there are nine. To sum up, in 1902 there were 

 160 ships on foreign and Colonial stations against 76 to-day. Do not imagine that this 



