SOME months ago the First Lord of the Admiralty warned us that
if the German programme of ship-building should be found to contain
large schemes of naval extension he would be obliged to ask for an
increased grant for his Majesty's navy. Mr Churchill's fears were
not groundless. The German Parliament has sanctioned an expenditure
on the navy on a scale so largely increased as to warrant us to
believe that Germany means, if she can, to overhaul us in the
matter of superiority at sea. Mr Churchill made no secret on Monday
of his alarm at the ambitious programme that the German naval
authorities have outlined, and accordingly he asked for the
immediate additional grant of £990,000. Associated, however, as he
is with colleagues some of whom begrudge every halfpenny that is
spent on the national defences, and think that the resources of the
Exchequer are better spent in endowing innumerable posts in the
Government service, he has to go warily to work. Thus, though
Germany is forging ahead with breathless haste, we are to lay down
no new keels until six months have elapsed, and other details of
his plan have all the appearance of having been pared down to a
minimum of effectiveness in deference to the feelings of the
sentimentalists who rule the political roost at the present time.
One point, however, has been gained. Even the Government at last
takes seriously the German menace it has pooh-poohed hitherto, and
has ceased to act as though the way to induce Germany to restrict
her schemes of armament was to stop building English ships.