15 MARCH 1930, Page 3

The Navy Estimates The Navy Estimates issued on Thursday, February

6th, are the lowest since the War. There is a reduction on last year's Estimates of £4,126,000. Most of the saving is on new construction, and this is sufficient evidence of the hopes which the Government still have of the Conference. It has been decided to continue with the present contracts .on the Singapore Base, but no new work is to be undertaken. There will be no proposals for the addition of new ships to the Navy before the results of the Naval Conference are known. The personnel is to be reduced before April, 1981, by a further three thousand and fifty, and will then be roughly the same as in the closing years of the last century. In spite of the economies, a new research vessel is to be built to find new grounds for the fishing industry.