IMPERIAL DEFENCE

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2570, 3 August 1909, Page 5

IMPERIAL DEFENCE

COLONIAL DELEGATES BANQUETTED.' REVIEW OF~THE FLEET WITNESSED. ' ?Onstei> Press Association —CoryuiciiT. LONDON, August 1. Tho Government banquetted all the -Colonial delegates at the Foreign Office, followed by a reception. Mr Asquith gave a garden party on Friday in honor of the delegates and their wives.

The delegates yesterday witnessed a review of the fleet in tho Solent. Among those following King Edward and Queen Alexandra in the procession ■of yachts through the lines wore the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke ;and Duchess of Connaught, the .Lords of the Admiralty, members of Parliament and special guests. The influx of visitors at Portsmouth and Cowes was the largest since the Jubilee review.

SUGGESTIONS BY THE ‘TIMES.” SOME IMPORTANT PROPOSALS. (Received August 2, 10 p.m.) LONDON, August .2. The ‘Times” in an important series -of leaders discussing the problems of Imperial defence, advocates three principles to govern the permanent solution of the question : (1) Each Dominion must develop its own naval resources under its own Parliament; (2) the training and material of the overseas forces must, as far as possible, be the same; and (3) individual efforts must be coordinated to the common end. If Canada makes the Northern Pacific her naval sphere, she must do so in combination with .a common naval policy covering all parts of the world. Ono of the first questions for the present conference should he how best to utilise the offers of New Zealand and Australia. The acceptance of Dreadnoughts for European service can only he regarded a special measure for a special emergency, quite distinct from

the progressive naval policy which the conference must strive to evolve. The “Times’'’ suggests that the funds voted by New Zealand and Australia could be more profitably applied to cruisers fitted for the Australian station and better qualified for immediate requirements than battleships; that the growing local Australian flotilla would benefit from joint training with the British squadron, and that the Imperial cruiser -squadron should extend its operations from Simon’s Town to Sydney/ and from Auckland to Vancouver. This would show the flag where it is .at present little| seen, ensure the donors seeing their own gifts, encourage popular interest in naval affairs, do much tf> facilitate and establish a single standard throughout the Empire’s fleet, and bring home to beholders the actual meaning of naval power. This policy may not be summarily accepted by the present conference, but there is to be a full dress conference in 1911. The “Times” strongly urges the formation of an Imperial .general staff for the navy.

When Sir Joseph Ward’s attention was called to the “Times’ ” suggestion, he expressed a belief that the New Zealand Government would not favor it, and that the Dominion would prefer to adhere to its own proposal.

THE TERRITORIAL ARMY. SUCCESSFUL MOBILISATION EXPERIMENTS. (Received August 2, 10.20 p.m.) Lord Esher arranged a scheme whereby the Great Western Railway transported 15,000 Territorials, with 3400 horses and 300 vehicles, including 40 guns, from London to Salisbury 1 lain j between midnight and 4 o’clock on Sunday aftei'noon. The South-Western railway similarly carried 12,000 without flurry or interference with the holiday traffic. [Salisbury Plain is about 90 miles from London.]