IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2664, 20 November 1909, Page 5

IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

A HOMOGENOUS ARMY

United I’ussh AssociATioNr— Copyright

LONDON, Nov. 18

Lord .Lucas, speaking at the Liberal Colonial Club, described the efforts being made to secure a homogenous Imperial army. Thirty Imperial officers Avere now serving in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, while tivclve of their officers Avere in Britain. It was possible that a Canadian battalion Avould be present at the next British manoeuvres. The military forces cf the Empire totalled almost a milion and a quarter. RUMORED RETIREMENT OF ADMIRAL FISHEIt. LONDON, Nov. 15. Sir William White, speaking at the Society of Arts, said it was satisfactory to note that wiser counsels were again' prevailing Avith the Admiralty, and the necessity of employing vessels of many classes in the Inqperial Navy wa.s recognised. He hoped the colonial contributions to naval defence would not be limited to the provision of ships. They should include personal service. Several newspapers _ state that Sir Arthur Wilson will succeed Lord Fisher at the Admiralty. CRITICS DIFFER. That naval critics differ, as well as doctors, is proved by the following criticism by Mr. Alan Wilson, the “Daily Mail” naval Avriter. The subject is German and British Dreadnoughts. The “Daily Mail’ ’ thus summarises Mr. Burgoyne’s criticism of its critic:— , _ , In the first place, lie says, Hie Ersatz Siegfried is building at Kiel, not Hamburg. In the second place he domes since the construction of the .first that England has been “marking time ’ since the construction of the original Dreadnought. Comparing the Dreadnought and Hie Neptune, the length of the British 12-inch guns has risen from 45 to 50 calibres, , the secondary battery from 12-pounders to 30-pounders, and the displacement from 17,900 to 20,250 tons. Thirdly, it is not correct to sav that five Nassaus have been followed by six Super-Dreadnoughts, “which are now actually in hand,” as the Nassaus number only four, and two of the six Super-Dreadnoughts have not yet been commenced. Fourthly, details of them have not been withheld, but ha\-o been published in the German press. Fifthly, only the tivo ships not yet commenced will have turbine engines. Sixthly, they are not Super-Dreadnoughts at all, as they haA'C tAvo feAver 12-inch guns on. the broadside than the American Wyoming and Arkansas. Seventhly, to say that the German squadron of Dreadnoughts is superior to the English suggests that Sir Philip Watts’s hand and brain have lost their, cunning. Finally, when the} statement was made that the latest German small cruiser Mainz has obtained a speed of 27 knots, Avhile small cruisers of ordy 25 knots are being laid doAvn by the British Navy, miseonsceptions Avould have been had it been added that the Mainz w r as only designed for a speed of 25 knots and the Boadicea, the first of our ships to be completed, has attained 27.9 knots on trial.