Addi

tional men

for the fleet.

to do that which many sailors have long advocated. We shall be able to substitute in the next eight months four efficient and seagoing ironclads for the four hulks which now carry the flags of the Commanders-in-Chief at Sheerness, Portsmouth, Plymouth, and Kingstown. These vessels will have all their stores and all their coal on board, and they will be prepared at a moment's notice to go anywhere. This means a great addition to our reserves in the home waters. (Hear, hear.) The only other increase in the ordinary estimates worthy of note is in regard to the provision we make for Improved improving the coaling facilities for our fleet in the Channel. We coaling facilities. also propose to dredge the Medway, so as to allow first-class ironclads with all their weights on board to pass down with the ordinary tide. We also propose to increase the votes 1 and 2 by the sum of £250,000 for the purpose of adding 3000 men besides those voted last year. (Hear, hear.) Those 3000 men would comprise 1100 marines, 1000 stokers, and about 900 bluejackets. These sums will show a total increase of £602,000 over the Naval Estimates of the preceding year. The Committee will naturally ask, Does this increase on shipbuilding carry with it great progressive increases in future, so far as the expenditure on stores and men is concerned?— because I think it would be very unfair to get the Committee by a side wind to assent to an increase of one branch of expenditure without placing clearly before hon. members the increase which that sanction entails in other branches of expenditure. On that point I can give satisfactory assurances to the Committee. We at present have sufficient men to man every available vessel, but when all these ships are completed we shall want a considerable additional number. While I think it most desirable to accumulate a large reserve of war vessels for an emergency, I do not think it would be reasonable to ask the Committee to vote all the money necessary to maintain sufficient men on the continuous service system to man all those vessels. A certain increase will be necessary, but that increase, spread over the next five years, will, I think, not amount to more than £250,000 in the aggregate. I propose, in conjunction with the President of the Board of Trade, to turn attention to the development of the Naval Reserve. In the Naval Reserve you have most admirable material, and, as our deficiencies are mainly under the heads of lieutenants and stokers, I have no doubt we shall be able to make some arrangements by which a very large proportion of those deficiencies can be supplied without a great addition to the Estimates. On the other hand, there will be a substantial contribution next year from Australia as an appropriation in aid; there would be, as the

Naval
Reserve.

tion

reserve.

Committee would recollect, a decrease in the shipbuilding vote two or three years hence if the House was satisfied with the strength at which the Navy was maintained; and there would also be two or three years hence a considerable decrease in the ordnance votes. I am looking closely into the question of the reserves of ammunition. AmmuniThe proportion of reserves was fixed many years ago, when production was limited and slow. Now that production has rapidly increased, I do not think it advisable to keep large stores of perishable material. I hope I shall be able to make emergency contracts with the great firms who manufacture these articles, and, if so, we shall be able to accomplish a substantial reduction in our ordnance vote. Therefore, putting together all these decreases, and putting against them the only prospective increase, I think I may say our scheme carries with it, as it progresses, a reduction rather than an increase of expenditure. ("Hear, hear," and a laugh.) I must next say a word or two upon that part of our work, on which we have bestowed most trouble and anxiety-namely, the preparation of designs of the respective types. New designs. Now, in preparing those designs we were all very much impressed with the great difference between the requirements of the British Navy and those of foreign navies. The great mass of European navies are kept in peace time within inland seas, such as the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Mediterranean; with the exception of France they have outside Europe few bases of operation. Now, vessels intended for short cruises require neither the sea-going qualities nor the coaling capacity which English ships must have. Therefore, if these qualities are to be obtained, our ships must be larger and larger; and, if they are to be equal in armament and superior in speed, the coal-carrying capacity must necessarily be larger. The Committee will have noted the large dimensions of many of the ships we propose to build. We have ascertained that increase of size does not carry with it corresponding increase of expenditure, but it does carry with it a proportionate increase in the length of life of the vessel as an efficient fighting machine. We have therefore prepared our designs on that principle, and I would just roughly state what they are. The torpedo gunboat will be a vessel of 735 tons, with a Torpedo gun-boat. raised deck forward, a speed of 21 knots, as against a tonnage of 550 and a speed of 18 knots of its predecessor, the Rattlesnake. The Pandoras are an exact reproduction of the vessels building for the Pandora Australian colonies, which have given satisfaction to all who have examined their design. The improved Medeas are an improvement Improved on the original Medeas. Their speed is the same, 20 knots, their armament is somewhat heavier, but they are 35 feet longer and have

class.

Medeas.

cruisers.

Select
Commit-

tee recom-
mended.

Consulta tion for designs.

First-class 600 tons greater displacement. The first-class cruisers are vessels of 7350 tons, as against 4050 tons of the original Mersey, on which they are supposed to be an improvement. Their speed is 3 knots greater—namely, 20 knots. Every one of the above types represents a design which has either given satisfaction or is an improvement upon a well-known and satisfactory ship. I propose to-morrow to lay on the table a paper giving full particulars of our whole procedure. In the meantime this paper I will roughly summarize. The Select Committee on the Navy Estimates last year suggested that as regards the distribution of armament of battle-ships outside opinion should be called in. I very soon found out that the outside opinion wanted was not that of designers, but of naval officers. I am fortunate enough to have at the Admiralty four officers, three of whom have held the post of Director of Naval Ordnance, and one now ably discharges the duties of that office, and in those four gentlemen I believe I have more technical knowledge as to ordnance than can be found in any Admiralty in the world. We discussed the subject at very considerable length what should be the distinctive features and qualities of the new battle-ships, and we had a considerable number of alternative designs prepared, with their weights, showing what could be done, because the difficulty is not what is put in, but what you leave out. These were all worked out. I was anxious to get the best outside naval opinion I could get; and, therefore, I sent the designs to the three Admirals appointed examined to report on the Naval Manœuvres and to the two Commandersin-Chief. Afterwards we met at the Admiralty and had a full discussion on the subject, a report of which will be found in a Parliamentary paper; and I am glad to say we were almost unanimous in the decision at which we arrived. Roughly speaking, the disposition of armament is that of the Admiral class, though the number of guns is considerably greater, while the disposition of armour much more resembles that of the Trafalgar or the Nile. They are vessels of great coaling and high steaming capacity, with a speed of 17 knots. I believe they will give almost universal satisfaction to the service, while as regards seagoing qualities they will be capable of being sent to any part of the world and in any weather. (Hear, hear.) Just before I sit down there is one other subject on which I should like to touch. Our scheme is naturally based on the nature of the work which in an emergency our Navy will have to do. The area to be covered and the duties to be performed are so great and various that I should like roughly to indicate to the Committee the distribution of that work and the means by which we hope to carry it out. Our first duty will be so

Three

Admirals

the de

signs.

The new

battleships.

of com

merce.

cruiser.

to dispose of our fleets that our coasts should be defended from
invasion and our naval stations from bombardment, and this dis-
position should be carried out on wide and general lines for the
protection of commerce. These duties must be exclusively performed
by the regular Navy. The second branch of the subject is the
protection of our commerce on certain trade routes. The great bulk Protection
of this work also must be done by the Navy, but the armed cruisers
of the mercantile marine can be associated with the Navy in the
discharge of that duty. (Hear, hear.) I am sorry to see depreciatory
observations made as to the inferiority of the merchant cruiser on the Merchant
ground that it would not be a match for a war vessel of the same
size. Of course they are not a match for a war vessel of the same size;
if they were, there would be no object in having war cruisers. But
they will be more than a match for any cruiser of the same character,
and in all those movements of dogging the footsteps of a foreign
merchantman, embarrassing a foe, and keeping touch with a squadron.
that has broken blockade, they will be absolutely invaluable. (Hear,
hear.) I advocate the extension of the system on still higher grounds.
The discipline of the mercantile marine is every year improving, and
I believe it is very much to the advantage alike of the mercantile
marine and of the Navy that they should be brought together, and
I trust the House will always insist on that being a primary feature
of Admiralty policy. Now, I turn to the third question, on which
there has been a great deal of agitation, and particularly in the
neighbourhood of Newcastle-namely, the question of local defence, Local
and I will only deal with that portion of it which is known as the defence.
floating defence. Now, we asked the commercial ports to co-operate
with us in the discharge of this duty, and they willingly complied.
The primary duty of the Navy, in my judgment, is to prevent attacks
upon those ports. Their secondary duty is to co-operate with the
land forces. Now the gentlemen we asked to co-operate in that
secondary duty attached to that co-operation conditions which would
have fettered us in the discharge of our primary duty. They wished
us to station certain war vessels at different ports and leave them
there in time of war. We could not assent to such an arrangement,
because if we made it in time of peace it would not be worth any-
thing in time of war. There is some limit to the amount of money
for naval purposes which Parliament can vote (ironical cheers), and
the more that money is locked up in vessels stationed at different
ports of the coast, the less remains for the general defence of the
country and the Empire. If our naval supremacy were seriously
impaired no system of local defence, however efficient, would give
protection to the country. On the other hand, if our supremacy is

cruisers.

Select

Commit

tion for

First-class 600 tons greater displacement. The first-class cruisers are vessels of 7350 tons, as against 4050 tons of the original Mersey, on which they are supposed to be an improvement. Their speed is 3 knots. greater—namely, 20 knots. Every one of the above types represents a design which has either given satisfaction or is an improvement upon a well-known and satisfactory ship. I propose to-morrow to lay on the table a paper giving full particulars of our whole procedure. In the meantime this paper I will roughly summarize. The Select Committee on the Navy Estimates last year suggested that as regards the distribution of armament of battle-ships outside opinion mended. should be called in. I very soon found out that the outside opinion Consulta- wanted was not that of designers, but of naval officers. I am designs. fortunate enough to have at the Admiralty four officers, three of whom have held the post of Director of Naval Ordnance, and one now ably discharges the duties of that office, and in those four gentlemen I believe I have more technical knowledge as to ordnance than can be found in any Admiralty in the world. We discussed the subject at very considerable length what should be the distinctive features and qualities of the new battle-ships, and we had a considerable number of alternative designs prepared, with their weights, showing what could be done, because the difficulty is not what is put in, but what you leave out. These were all worked out. I was anxious to get the best outside naval opinion I could get; and, therefore, I sent the designs to the three Admirals appointed to report on the Naval Manœuvres and to the two Commandersin-Chief. Afterwards we met at the Admiralty and had a full discussion on the subject, a report of which will be found in a Parliamentary paper; and I am glad to say we were almost unanimous in the decision at which we arrived. Roughly speaking, the disposition of armament is that of the Admiral class, though the number of guns is considerably greater, while the disposition of armour much more resembles that of the Trafalgar or the Nile. They are vessels of great coaling and high steaming capacity, with a speed of 17 knots. I believe they will give almost universal satisfaction to the service, while as regards seagoing qualities they will be capable of being sent to any part of the world and in any weather. (Hear, hear.) Just before I sit down there is one other subject on which I should like to touch. Our scheme is naturally based on the nature of the work which in an emergency our Navy will have to do. The area to be covered and the duties to be performed are so great and various that I should like roughly to indicate to the Committee the distribution of that work and the means by which we hope to carry it out. Our first duty will be so

Three

Admirals examined the de

signs.

The new battleships.