40 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



March 1, 1913. 



larger issue of a nava! policy, are sub- 

 sidiary issues equally contentious as to 

 ships, men, and maintenance. To build 

 a Dreadnought, even in England, with 

 workmen and equipment unexcelled, 

 takes two and a-quarter years, and costs 

 over iJ^2, 200,000. To build warships in 

 Canada will require the establishment 

 •of dockyards ; the installation of 

 machinery ; the training of workers, and 

 it is inevitable that the cost in all these 

 respects wall be much greater than in 

 the Mother Country. Then as to the 

 location of such dockyards, Montreal, 

 Quebec, Sydney, Halifax, and St. John 

 may be regarded as competitors, though 

 the first two are inaccessible for five 

 months of the year, because of the ice 

 blockades, and Sydney for perhaps 

 three months, while Halifax enjoys the 

 advantage of being fortified and St. 

 John boasts of vast new harbour works 

 now being created there. 



THE QUESTION OF SEAMEN. 



In manning the ships, difficulty will 

 Toe felt. So far Canada has been able 

 to enlist not more than 350 bluejackets. 

 Her people do not take kindly to dis- 

 ciplinary pursuits. The latest report of 

 the North-West Mounted Police shows 

 that 85 per cent, of that force are com- 

 posed of Britishers. The Admiralty 

 fourteen years ago, when organising 

 nava! reserves in the Oversea Domin- 

 ions, declined to locate one on the Cana- 

 dian seaboard because of poor " raw 

 material," the high rate of wages that 

 would have to be paid, and the virtual 

 certainty that as men were trained they 

 would drift into the American Navy, 

 though such a force was organised in 

 Newfoundland, and is now in operation 

 with a training ship at St. John's, 

 through which hundreds of young 

 fishermen have passed. Not the least 

 difficulty affecting this whole question 

 for Canada is that of manning new 

 ■ships. Even in England to-day it is 

 one of the most serious problems before 

 the Admiralty. 



As to maintenance in the Dominion, 



many criticise the wisdom of trying to 

 operate a naval arm as a part of the 

 Canadian Civil Service. The}' predict 

 graft and incompetence, and cite the 

 case of the Niobe, the training ship for 

 the Atlantic, which was ordered to Yar- 

 mouth (N.S.) more than a year ago to 

 join in some local celebration, because 

 interested parties had sufficient political 

 influence to do this, despite the protests 

 of the ship's officers and the naval 

 Bureau at Ottawa, with the result that 

 her anchors dragged, she went aground, 

 tore out her bottom, and has been the 

 past twelve months in Halifax under- 

 going repairs which will cost over 

 ;^40,ooo. These critics favour Canadian 

 battleships being built in British ship- 

 yards under Adniiralt)- direction to 

 secure uniformity and efficienc)' ; and 

 to be stationed, when completecl, where 

 the Admiralt)- judges they are most 

 needed ; while Canadian recruits are to 

 have preference on Canadian battle- 

 ships, which ships are to bear Canadian 

 names and be distinctiveh- Canadian, 

 and to be over and abo\e the margin of 

 security required for the Britisii Na\y. 



THE SIC.XIITCANCE OF A CANADIAN NAVY 

 TO AMERICANS. 



Finally, this question of Canada's 

 navy has its interest for the United 

 States, because while heretofore Canada 

 may be said to have relied for her de- 

 fence by land on the Monroe Doctrine 

 and by sea on the British fleet, in the 

 event of any war between Britain and 

 another power after this naval project 

 is launched, Canada will not be immune 

 from the danger of invasion, and there- 

 fore the w^hole question of the efficiency 

 of the Monroe Doctrine will at once 

 arise. An\' such power at war with 

 Britain will claim, and with justice, the 

 right to ravage Canada's coasts, and 

 otherwise visit upon her the penalties 

 that attach to such a condition, and 

 what bearing such will have on the Mon- 

 roe Doctrine is a question that may be- 

 fore many years actively confront the 

 United States. 



