Estimated cost.

the Elbe. The northern mouth of the canal is already sufficiently protected by the forts at Kiel and Friedrichsort.

To protect the southern mouth, it has been decided to form a second-class naval station at Burnsbüttel and to fortify it. Ten of the new ironclad gunvessels are to be stationed there; barracks, store-houses, and dry docks are to be built there; and it is expected that in less than ten years the mouth of the Elbe will be rendered impregnable, as Kiel and Wilhelmshaven are already declared to be. In the meanwhile Dantsic is to be transformed into another second-class naval station, in order to act as a counterweight to Libau, which Russia has recently fortified. Germany will then possess a first and a secondclass naval port in the Baltic as well as in the North Sea. The completed canal will enable Kiel, Brunsbüttel, and Dantsic to support one another so long as Germany retains command of Holstein and her Baltic coasts; but Wilhelmshaven will still remain liable to be isolated in war time. While Great Britain holds the island of Heligoland, which in this connection the Germans call a Nasenklemmer, or nosepincher, she would be able in case of need to blockade the mouth of the Elbe and the entrance to the Jade, on which Wilhelmshaven is situated. Should she do so, she would, of course, put a stop to communication by water between Wilhelmshaven and the three other German naval ports. She would prevent the concentration of the ships in the North Sea ports, and inability to concentrate might be fatal to Germany. It is proposed, therefore, after the completion of the canal as at present designed, to continue it from the Elbe across Northern Hanover to the Jade. Battle-ships would then be able to pass unhindered from Kiel to Wilhelmshaven, or vice versa, without going to sea at all; and intercommunication by water between all the German naval ports might be maintained even if a foreign Power held absolute command of the German Ocean.

"The estimated cost of the twelve new gun-vessels is about £160,000 a piece, or about £2,000,000 in all. The ten new battle-ships will not absorb the whole of the remaining part of the sum which it is proposed to devote to the reconstruction of the navy. They are not expected to cost more than £400,000 each, and, should they cost no more, a sum of £4,000,000 will be available for replacing the Grosser Kurfürst, the Hansa, the Kronprinz, and the Friedrich Karl, for the building of works at Brunsbüttel, for adding to the torpedo-boat flotilla, and for the carrying out of minor improvements which are contemplated.

"It is further proposed to reorganize as well as to reconstruct the German fleet. Its organization, especially as regards administrative