The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1912.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3652, 12 October 1912, Page 6

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1912.

It would seem that the Home authorities are at last devoting a great deal of consideration to what is really the chief need of the Royal Navy—more men. No matter how many vessels a nation may possess; no matter though as a whole they i represent, a s do those of Great Brit- j ain, the greatest fleet in the world, j if the number of men available be inadequate it must constitute a danger that cannot be allowed to continue. As is well known, this tremendous fact has long been recognised by the Navy League; and the agitation fot-xeform which it has been conducting is, as we have indicated, now bearing fruit. The chief reasons which have been advanced from time to time by the League for an increase in the personnel of tire Fleet are: (1) Because of the important part which the submarine plays in present-day naval warfare ; and it is recognised by everybody who knows anything about the service that the efficiency of the men in a submarine after a few days at .sea requires periods of rest, and unless there are alternate crews these undersea machines of war can only give a proportion of their real effective value. (2) It is well known that the strain upon the men owing to continuous exercises has been greater than at any time previously, and in order to get the best out of the lower deck there .must lie in every ship the fullest complement of crew possible. (3) After all, the striking efficiency of the Navy depends upon the whole-hearted enthusiasm of the men in the discharge of their duties, and it is inevitable A;hat there must be an improvement in I their position from year to year, and this, of course, means a larger number j of hands to perform the given amount jof work. Perhaps what induced the j Admiralty to go into the matter—even ! more than tiie long continuing agita- | tion to which we have referred—was i the action of Germany in adding, I lately, a whole squadron to its fullyI equipped fighting force. There is j found to be, however, no time to make

The Creat Nsaci of tha Navy.

up the numbers that are desired exclusively or even mainly with recruits. The Admiralty is therefore trying in a hurry—how far it will succeed is in doubt at present—to induce reservists and time expired men to re-enlist at increased rates of pay. Many.of these, who are just completing a 22-years’ service, are being asked to remain on the ships for a further term of five years. Another class of men, who are entered for five years afloat and seven years in the reserve, are at the same time being invited to re-engage for three years, \oung recruits are being taken on as fast- as possible, but several years will elapse before they are qualified. They cannot be trained soon enough to be of use in the present emergency. The Admiralty hopes to engage some thousands of additional men by March next. Crews are needed at once for existing ships which will replace those about to be despatched from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, and soon additional men must be provided for four new battleships and an equal number of battle cruisers which are nearing completion. “If the present policy,” says the secretary of the Navy League, “is persevered in for five years, at the close of that period we shall have 166,000 officers and men, and 5000 of the men known as ‘immediate reservists’—that is, on the basis of 5000 a year increase. Now. we hi the Navy League hold that the annual increase should be 6000 men, and not 5000, as provided for by the Admiralty, and this would give us at 1919 171,000 personnel, apart from the 5000 immediate reservists. Our strength would then be the foregoing numbers as against 101,500 provided for under the German navy law.”