LOSSES OF THE NAVY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12536, 6 May 1915, Page 3

LOSSES OF THE NAVY.

Tn a recent .speech in the House of Commons. Mr Winston ( liurcbill deprecated nervousness regarding the naval situation. "We have established for the time being a command of the sea such as we had never e\-]>erled, such as we had never known, and our ancestors had never known, al any oilier period of our history." be said. "Knergv ought net to he. consumed in investigations and discussions of incidents beyond recall. It. should be concenlraiod on new tasks and difficulties. In all these matters 1 ask that absolute discretionary power be given to the Admiralty, whether in regard to courts-martial or courts of inquiry, or to the removal without trial of officers who have forfeited the confidence of the board, or to the publication of information of particular incidents. I would especially deprecate anything being done that could make officers afloat or at the Admiralty play for safety and avoid responsibility for positive action. Losses have to be incurred in war, our ships are in constant movement, and risks are run every day. If any mood or tendency of public opinion arises or is fostered by the newspapers or is given countenance to in this House which makes too much of losses, even if it may be said that in some respects they are avoidable losses, even then, I say, you will have started on a path which, pressed to its logical conclusion, wouTfl leave our navy cowering in its harbours instead of ruling the seas. When I think of the great scale of our operations, of the numbers of ships whose movements have to be arranged for, and of the novel conditions to which T have referred, it is marvellous to me how few our losses have been."