582 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 
limits of size, internal combustion engines no doubt answer admirably ; 
- but as dimensions and individual power of the engines are increased, the 
difficulties to be overcome also rapidly increase, and the fact is fully 
recognised by those having the best knowledge of those types of prime 
movers. On the whole, therefore, it seems probable that the turbine will not 
soon be displaced, whatever may happen eventually. 
An Imperial Navy. 
Three centuries ago a great English seaman and coloniser wrote these 
words :— 
‘ Whomsoever commands the sea commands the trade ; 
Whomsoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches 
of the world, and consequently the world itself.’ 
In these words Sir Walter Raleigh clearly expressed the doctrine of ‘ sea- 
power,’ which in recent times has been emphasised by Admiral Mahan of 
the United States Navy and other writers. Twenty years ago when the move- 
ment began which has been followed by an unprecedented series of ship- 
building programmes, great additions to the personnel of the Royal Navy 
and large expenditure on improvements of existing naval bases and the 
creation of others at important strategical points, the same truth was ex- 
pressed in a report made by three distinguished Admirals, one of whom, 
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Richards, subsequently became First 
Naval Lord of the Admiralty, and did much to give effect to the policy he 
had joined in recommending. One passage in this report may be quoted: 
‘ No other nation has any such interest in the maintenance of an undoubted 
superiority at sea as has England, whose seaboard is her frontier. England 
ranks amongst the great Powers of the world by virtue of the naval position 
she has acquired in the past, and which has never been seriously challenged 
since the close of the last great war. The defeat of her Navy means to her 
the loss of India and her Colonies, and of her place amongst the nations.’ 
The ‘maintenance of an undoubted superiority at sea’ in existing cir- 
cumstances and in face of foreign competition is no easy task, and it is 
good to know that the Dominions beyond the Seas are ready to take a share 
of the heavy burden of Empire. In what way effect can best be given to 
this fundamental idea it is not easy to decide. It is necessarily a matter in 
which the views of all concerned must be considered, and a policy determined 
on which shall command hearty support from all portions of the Empire. 
It may be presumed that the arrangement of such a policy has been the 
chief object of this year’s Defence Conference. The decision which may be 
reached and the action taken must exercise momentous influence upon the 
destiny of the Empire. Universal approval has been given to the arrange- 
ment for that Conference, and this is a happy augury of its ultimate success 
in framing a satisfactory scheme for the construction and maintenance of an 
Imperial Navy. Many valuable suggestions have been made by British and 
Colonial authorities as to the great lines on which such a scheme should be 
drawn, but this is not the place to enter upon a discussion of the subject. 
It may be permitted, however, as a sequence to the preceding remarks on 
oversea transport, to remark that the protection of trade routes between 
the Mother Country and the Dominions beyond the Seas constitutes an 
essential duty; in the performance of which duty, especially in portions 
of trade routes adjacent to the Colonies, naval forces maintained by the 
Colonies may render valuable service. Such a policy in no way infringes 
the fundamental condition that supremacy at sea ultimately depends upon 
battle-fleets ; while it recognises the fact, which past struggles have demon- 
strated, that behind and beyond the work of battle-fleets lies the need for 
adequate protection of commerce and communications. Moreover, it leaves 
