Mr. A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty,
stated the British case for abolition. It may be remarked here that he was speaking for almost the whole Empire as he had the support of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and the Free State. The South African representa- tive would not commit himself to abolition, though he said that his Government would join in every effort to limit submarines. Mr. Alexander thought that for coast defence the submarine was comparatively ineffective. On the other hand, the modern enlarged submarine, with its wide:radius of action and its gun armament, was defin- itely an offensive ship. So long as submarines existed, he said, there would always be a danger that they would be used inhumanly. If it were held that the submarine was really a valuable weapon of defence then the British Empire must clearly have a very cogent reason for retaining it ; yet the Empire was prepared unreservedly to give up this form of protection. Mr. Alexander next described in terms of industrial welfare the very hard con- ditions in a submarine and the grave risks to the lives and the health of the crews. If, however, his plea for abolition were refused Great Britain, he said, would try to confine the submarine to defence by limiting it both in numbers and in size. •
