20 FEBRUARY 1915, Page 3

We have written elsewhere of the naval statement which Mr.

Churchill made in the House of Commons on Monday, and also of Mr. Lloyd George's explanation of the financial situation. Here we may briefly refer to the speech in which Mr. Boner Law spoke just the right words about the Navy. He showed bow the very natural and deep anxiety about our commerce at the beginning of the war had given place to almost complete security. Confidence in the Navy was never more firmly established. He disagreed with Mr. Churchill as to the undesirability of holding Courts-Martial to inquire into the losses of ships. He considered that they would not act in restraint of enterprise, and would not be die. honouring to officers. Really officers regarded them as a kind of protection. If officers were unfairly blamed, they could get justice from their brother-officers at a Court-Martial. In con. elusion, Mr. Boner Law said that Napoleon was pressed by sea rather than on land. The German Emperor was pressed both by sea and on land. "I think that that pressure will ultimately compel the German Emperor to risk his Navy in a sea fight."