Evening star., 1921-05-31
|D0M|N|0NS MAY AID
! BRITISH NAVY COST
Sentiment in Favor of Over
poWering Fleet Unless
Race Is Halted.
BY HERBERT COREY.

|
| Great Britain will soon start the |
naval race all over aeain. She VII!
| begin building warShips-fast and |!
heavy cruisers. most likely, and not |,
| attleships-at greater rate than /!
any other nation. She may lay down ]
few super Hoods. With them she /
can drive an enemys commerce off |
the seas. Commerce killing is what
counts in war now Battleships are |
lperllously near paSSe.
Not that she wants to build more. |
| She has enough ships now to hold
her own in the event of war. If not
another battleship were to be built
by any nation there are enough old
battlers in existence to last until the
, fourth day of the millennium. But if
other nations build Great Britain will,
| If present information is accurate.
She proposes to hold her present rela-
tive position.
Not that she is apt to build battle-
ships. They are slow and clumsy.
and while excellent to fight other bat
tleships. they are useless against fast
cruisers which can keep out Of the
way. Germany and Russia are not
contenders. there is no thought of
trouble with France or Italy. and
Japan and the United States are too
far away. even if the impossible
should happen and war were to come
mo nation says Vice Admiral Mark
Kerr of the British navy, would dare
send capital fleet 5000 miles across
open water to fight an enemy. 1t is
ten chances to one such a fleet would
be wiped out to the last bottom.
Without base it would be whitfield
away by the air and submarine forces
OF the enemy without ever meeting
the enemy's grand fleet"
i Dominions May Help.
But Great Britain feels that she
nance. She has hinted to both the
United States and Japan that she
would be willing to stop warship
adiI5g oaiading: Japan has just made an
perfectly grand to stop building. but
that she feels the time has not yet
come. The United States has not as
yet ceased to build. The weight of
British sentiment in favor of over
poWering naval strength is not fully
understood on this side of the water. |
Forced to go on building, as she sees
IT, she has been casting about to find
! the means or continuance. 1t looks |
as though she has found it:
| The dominions will help pay the
+, cost.
| Perhaps 1t is too early to accept |
this assumption at par But in June
in London. It will be the most i'm |
portant British conference ever. held |
/ in peace times. The premiers Of the
| various British dominions will meet |
with the British cabinet to discuss |
l
| tance to the empire. One is the mat |
ter OF nearer federation. So far as |
the sentiment in the various domin- |
ions has been learned in responsible |
made in the present status.
Want More Independence.
The dominions will not accept a |
! nearer relation to the empire than
! they occupy at present" is the state
ment of we'll informed man. They
l
self-government and Independence
| nor is there any apparent desire on
the part of Downing Street to deny |
| this: Canada and Australia and New !
position of self-governing nations in !
close treaty relations with the mother |
/ country"
But the time has come when the
to pay the cost Of the. naval contest
Even il the war had not intervened. !
this decision would have been reached |
| sooner or later. 1t is true that SO
had the privilege Of naming the tune
but they cannot go on paying at the |
rate which seems to be forced by the !!
competition Of Japan. and the prob |
So that it is entirely probable that
at the imperial conference in June the [
! dominions will agree to pay their
| share of the naval costs.
| MS Will unQOuDCe0Iy mean, in
! Washington opinion. that Canada
! and Australia and New Zealand will
| in the future have a share in deter
mining the activities of the empire
/ War may no longer be made by
| Downing Street without consultation.
But the domirAons realize that they
| cannot continue to claim naval pro-
lection without paying some share of
the navy's upkeep. nor, so far as we
, can learn. do they desire to do So"
! So that it is likely that the do
| minions will not only pay share in
! naval costs. but will have a share in
the navy itself Perhaps the various
| dominions will build. arm and man
ships. in coordination with the
| greater navy's plans, and perhaps the
| navy will be continued on the present
| plan. except that the dominions will
! be called on for money-which they |
! are not at present-and for a share ;
! of the men. In any case, if this de-
! cision is reached by the conference, it |
| is obvious that Great Britain will |
! again become a competitor in the ,
! armament race.
! If an understanding were reached |
| between the three nations most con-
| cerned, naval costs might be kept |
| down. Without that understanding! !
| British sentiment being what it is
! and the British pocket refilled by the |
! ominionS-whoop-la They're at the |
; post for the great naval derby.