The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-03-29 00:00:00

OPINIONS OF THE LONDON PAPERS
ON THE NAVY ESTIMATES.

The intro says :—" Mr. Goshen put in a long plea
last night [Nland in defence of the tact that the Navy
Estimated of this year show an increase ot er those of last
session ; but it must be admitted that he made out his
case. It aptears that the expenditure of the financial
year now rapidly approaching its close has been kept
within the votes only by deferring the execution of !tome
cf the work that had ',en contsmolated, and itsis nects-
sary that the year 1873-4 ehould bear colll,l of the
burden that was thus as lou4 as possible staved off.
The. general impression produced by the speech of the
First Lord is to comp.l the candid inquirer to revert to
the di dribes of iiVi years since, and ask how much
reality there was in them. If the fixed and inelastic
charges atuouat to so large a proporti sn of our whole
naval expenditure, what becomes of those hopes of
great reduction that were then held tut to us? Are
we to believe that we were misled by pleasing ails-
siors when we listened hi the promises of Itsdical re-
trenctuth-nt, and expected them to be fulfilled ? We
must avow that our last knowledge is in this matter
our best, that there Is not that great gain to be realised
by parsimony which we were led to expect, and our
only consolation is to be found in a resolution not to
suffer tAirselves to be deceived again."

The Standard is "glad to hear that vessels of the
old frigate and sloop classes are still to represent the
British navy abroad, and there cannot be a doubt as to
their efficiency for scivics in the remoter stations, and
their usefulness as training ships for our men and
officers. As to Mr. Goschen's ironclads sf the future,
our information is at present too gene-al to permit us
to form an opinion whether they will maintain that
superiority of England at sea which is a condition of
her existence. It is certainly not enough to be told
that the Peter the Nreat is not yet bubt, and that no
o her country has any vessel effirsl to ours. 'The one
justification of an increase in the naval estimates, iii a
year of profound peace, during a season of arbitrations,
and in the very midst of the process by which we have
secured three new rules of interna,ional law for our
greater safety, at a cost of 83,200,000, is that the
Government should give us a fleet worthy of the country,
which may be in itself a sufficient insurance, without
arbitration and without bribes to the enemy."

The Daily News thinks "it is not easy to as for
augmented Naval Estimates and to argue from princi-
ples of strictly pacific tendency at one and the Caine
time. Therefore the First Lord of the Admiralty
was driven to the theory that the cost of our navy
at its present rate has little to do with war, even
though it is essential that we shall build as many
war ships as ever. The public out of doors will
probably be surprised to hear that, no matter how
high the prices of coal and iron, there is one
department of our service which can do nothing
in the way of retrenchment to meet the increase
of cost. If some of Mr. Goschen's arguments
be well founded, there is an end, at least to far as the
navy is concerned, to tee pleasing theory that a good
foreign policy means economy in finance. It may be
that the Mcreased amount for which the country is to
be &skeet can be shown to be reasonable, end justified
to every chiding. But even in that case we do not
think vs much could be said in favour of some of the
arguments which were employed last night Monday]
to satudy the public as to the necrs i'y of such a rate
of expenditure."

The Daily Telegraph notes that "we have more than
twice as many seagoing ironclacle an all the other chief
maritime Powers put together. Although the Prier
the Great i 4 more thickly plated that any English ship,
our navy has vennebt so heavily armed that their guns
would eir k her with case ; and, although she might be
fully a match for I no of our snips, she would have no
chance of victory if assailed by two. '1 he number of
our vessels mnst, be considered, an well as the strength
of individual ships, and our Empire is tidi vast to he
guarded by great ironclads aione. Swift and heavily-
armed gunboats, an well RR great turret vesnels end
liners—Alabaman, able to sail fifteen knots an hour,
and carrying enormous guns, may play an great a part
in the naval warfare of the future as the most gigantic
of iron clads ; and Mr. Goachen has wisely refused to
spend all the available vote on monsters of metal. His
statement was as satisfactory an we could reasonably
expect such an account to be in a time of transition,
when the wit of naval artillerists in competing with
that of naval architects, and when each is making the
devices of the other obsolete."