38 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



March 1, 1913. 



battleship and three destroyers in active 

 service with the British fleet. Australia 

 has afloat and in commission three de- 

 stroyers ; under construction or com- 

 pleted in Britain, a battle-cruiser, 

 two Bristols, and three submarines ; 

 and under construction in her home 

 ports, another Bristol and three de- 

 stroyers. Moreover, in 1910, the 

 Commonwealth, stimulated to special 

 activity by the fear of Japan, a fear 

 which caused the Australians to give 

 the American battleship fleet in its 

 voyage round the world, the greatest 

 welcome it got anywhere, resolved upon 

 much larger naval schemes, embracing 

 eight Dreadnought cruisers, ten pro- 

 tected cruisers, eighteen destroyers, and 

 twelve submarines, the whole to cost 

 i^23,ooo,ooo, spread over twenty-two 

 years ; the outlay rising annually from 

 ;^i. 700,000 in 191 2 to ii"5,ooo,ooo in 

 1932-33, with the annual cost of main- 

 tenance increasing proportionately, the 

 basis being that an annual Australian 

 naval vote of iJ"5,ooo;ooo is relatively 

 equal, on the present population basis, 

 to a British naval budget of 

 ;^45.ooo,ooo. The creation of a naval 

 force of 15,000 men, and the fortifying 

 of ports on the east and west coasts 

 are also included. 



WHY CANADA LAGGED BEHIND. 



Canada, though the most pojjulous, 

 wealthy, and vulnerable of the Domin- 

 ions, did little to fulfil her promises — 

 so little, indeed, that she has been fre- 

 quently twitted for boasting so much 

 and doing so little. In justice to her, 

 though, it should be stated that her 

 apparent failure is not due to any lack 

 of lo\-alty on the part of her people. 

 Canadians proved their devotion to the 

 British flag on the blood-stained 

 African veldt in the most critical stages 

 of the Boer War. Why she has lagged 

 behind in naval matters is due to other 

 causes, partly to the problem of the 

 French-Canadians. An element in 

 Quebec province is anti-navyite ; and it 

 has been said, perhaps truh-, that no 

 public man but Laurier could have got 

 a naval service measure on the Statute 

 Book with as little trouble as attended 

 its enactment. It provided, not for a 



naval unit like Australia's, but for two 

 Bristols and six destroyers for the At- 

 lantic, and for the Pacific two Bristols 

 alone, with the requisite subsidiary es- 

 sentials — docks, arsenals, barracks, etc. 

 The ships were to be built in Canada 

 if possible ; and the 2000 officers and 

 men required were to be trained there. 

 xA. naval college for midshipmen was 

 established at Halifax; and two "dis- 

 classed " cruisers of the British Navy 

 were purchased for training ships^ — the 

 Niobe for the Atlantic and the /?c7z«- 

 bow for the Pacific. But up to the time 

 of the defeat of the Laurier Ministry 

 (September 21, 191 1), no contracts had 

 been awarded for the building of 

 Canada's Bristols or destroyers, and as, 

 under the proposals submitted to ten- 

 derers for the work, they need not all 

 be completed till 1917, the Borden 

 Government, after assuming office and 

 studying the situation, decided to con- 

 fer again with the Admiralty as to the 

 whole naval project and base its policy 

 on the con(-lusions reached then. Ac- 

 cordingly, Premier Borden and some of 

 his colleagues visited London last 

 August, discussed this subject very fully 

 with the Imperial authorities, and after 

 his return to Canada in September, the 

 Premier, at a banquet in Montreal, an- 

 nounced that Parliament would be con- 

 vened in November, to consider pro- 

 posals in regard to the Navy. 



THE DOMINION'S PART IN BIPERIAL 

 DEFENCE. 



Canada's ground for an immediate 

 contribution of Dreadnoughts or other 

 substantial aid to the motherland is that 

 a " grave naval emergency " exists, and 

 it is important to remember that under 

 the latest dispensations the British fleet 

 is destined for offence and not for de- 

 fence, since a fleet capable of meeting 

 and crushing a hostile naval force is 

 the best defence that any coast can 

 have. Hence, in the " Memorandum on 

 Sea Power " prepared by the British Ad- 

 miralty for the Council Conference 

 of 1902, it was emphasised that the 

 word " defence " did not appear ; it 

 being explained that " it is omitted be- 

 cause the primary object of the British 

 Navy is not to defend anything, but to 



