The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1911.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3273, 19 July 1911, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 1911.

To Mr. Andrew Carnegie, the wellknown millionaire, re-

A Unique Honour.

ee'nt’y foil quite a unique distinction. It will be recalled that some time ago

this great man. of wealth presented a million dollars towards the erection of a Pan-American Union building, otherwise known as the “Temple of Peace. ’ By way of recognition of this generous gift, and at the same time to mark his efforts for the promotion of the world’s peace, he has been awarded a gold medal presented by twenty-one American Republics. “The American Republics to Andrew Carnegie”' and “Benefactor of Humanity” are the inscriptions which appear on the medal, which is held to be the greatest hoi our which has ever been paid an individual by a group of nations. In making the presentation of the medal, President Taft referred l to Mr. Carnegie as the individual foremost in the world in liis energetic action for the promotion of peace. Quite touching were the remarks' in which Mr. Carnegie acknowledged the honour. “I was,” he said, “sitting at my desk in the Highlands of Scotland last autumn when a telegram was handed to me, which I opened and road without seeming quite to grasp the meaning of the l words. I was stunned. - Was I dreaming? Could such things be and overcome us like ft, summer’s cloud without our special wonder? My hands went to any forehead, and I bent my head to my desk. Slowly the truth developed and established itself, and I began to realise what it all meant. Truly, my friends, I never before felt so completely overwhelmed and crushed as it dawned on

me that th© honour which the conference had voted to confer was without parallel—l6o,ooo,ooo people, forming 21 sovereign States, bestowing on poor me an honour the like of which had never before been bestowed upon a human being. Still ashamed to stand up, I felt as if I should like to sink into the ground, conscious that I could never have the audacity to accept it, but as the days passed Hamlet’s words came to me: “Treat the poor players not after their deserts, but after your own honour and dignity. The poorer their merits the larger will be your bounty.’ I was indeed in th© condition of the poor players. The Republics had followed Hamlet’s advice and treated me not after my deserts but after their own dignity and honour, an ns thought resigned me to my fate.. Mr Carnegie, it may further he stated, marked his further appreciation of the great honour which had been conferred upon- him by the presentation of 100,OOOdols to adorn the grounds of what is to be one of the most notable bundings in the world.

A report to tlie effect that the British Government contemFor the Naval plates the abandonScrap Heap? ment of the Dreadnought type of battleship for a new type is creating a great deal of discussion in naval circles not only at Home hut in foreign countries. In this connection an article which appears in the June issue of the “National Review,” from the pen of Mr Carlyon Bellairs, formerly a Liberal M.P. and an ex-Lieutenant of the Royal Navy, is pregnant with interest. He claims that the danger to the navy is twofold—internal and external. In the time of Charles 11. the fleet was starved so that the King’s mistresses might squander the money. Result the Dutch in possession of Sheemess and Thames mouth. He believes that “the mistresses of King Demos,’ the Radical, are apt to be more costly than those of Charles II,” in other words, the “social legislation,” more or less hasty and ill-considered, will take up the money required for defence till the Empire is ruined through want of means of defence. He goes on to show how Ministers juggle with figures, instancing the scrapping of th© Royal Sovereign type of battleships on the ground of being worthless, but at the same time keeping three out of eight, and reckoning them as effective. Then attempts are made to prove that old type guns are ]iist as good as those of the latest type—any gun is as good as another gun—in order to swell the imaginary strength. Further, he shows that though obsolete ships are represented as effective, no provision is made for manning thom ; ro much so that the Government’s arrangements for manning show that they consider 20 out of the 40 pre-Dreadnoughts are obsolete — the 40 they claim in speeches as available in 1914. In later pre-Dread-noughts out position is becoming rela-tively-worse, and no provision is being made to adequately replace them. Extremists claim that the appearance of the Dreadnought has made all preD read noughts obsolete. That is hardly the case, but it has materially lessened their life. Ta'king Mr. McKenna's own figures, on Ist April, 1914, Germany will have Dreadnoughts 16, Invincibles 5, prc-Dr e-a cl noughts 18 ; total, 39. On a 2 to 1 superiority, such as the Treasury Committee of 1559 showed had always existed from 1778 to lSso_as against France, we ought to have 7S. Actually we shall have Dreadnoughts 22, Invincibles 9, prc-Dreadnoughts 23; total 54. Even adding the Commonwealth Dreadnought, we have a deficiency of 25, or, including the preDreadnoughts. a deficiency of 6 Dreadnoughts and Invincibles. In comparison with the strength of the Triple Alliance, allowing for a margin of 10 per cent., we shall require 70’ships; we have 54, or a deficiency of 16 ships. The deficiency of 25 battleships, on the 2 to 1 standard, in 1914 means the paralysis of our diplomacy, ffhis situation is the wilful creation of the Radical Cabinet, Its policy has been to use our paper strength in pre-Dreadnoughts to allay public alarm, then in its programmes to provide only for 26 armoured ships to 22 for Germany. Worse still, these pre-Dreadnoughts are nearly all “soft-ended” ships—that is, their ends either have no armour, or insufficient armour to resist the 6-inch guns of the auxiliary batteries of the German ships at any fighting distance. The fatal result- of this sort of thing was shown at the battle of the Sea of Japan, when tlie Japanese 6-incli guns sank tlie Russian battleships by penetrating their thinly armoured ends. It amounts to tliis: Out of the 40 preDreadnoughts Mr. Asquith claims for 1914, 20 must be struck off as obsolete, or insufficiently protected, and they must be replaced in time The country can afford that much better than it- can afford a war. Mr. Lloyd-George said on 25th May, 1907, in the Commons: “The wealth of the country is enormous. It is not merely great, but it is growing at a gigantic pace.” Hence, there is no excuse- not to -make good the deficit. He ends by giving his version of the significant warning of Admiral Lord Torrington, uttered in 1690; “I own I am afraid now, while the danger can be remedied; but you will be afraid in 1914, when it will be too late.”