In the House of Lords on Tuesday, Lord Hood of
Avalon— First Naval Lord during the late Government—moved that, in view of "the rapidly approaching completion" of the scheme under the Naval Defence 'Act, and of the great in- crease lately made in the navies of foreign Powers, "a further well-considered progressive scheme extending over a term of years" ought to be undertaken. Lord Spencer refused to countenance any such fiToposal, and declared that the Govern- ment would take the Naval Defence Act as their standard, and merely keep the Navy up to that,—that is, they would replace obsolete ships by new ones, but not further increase the strength of the Navy. The Government proposed to spend this year 22,493,731 on construction, which was some £200,000 above what was required to maintain "the normal weight of the Navy." Lord Salisbury closed the debate by a witty little speech, in which, though complimentary to Lord Hood of Avalon, he wisely forbore to press the demand for another programme. Incidentally, he asked a very important question. Was it absolutely impossible to have small ships with very heavy armaments and speed equal to the large ships If it was not possible, and speed and size were in- separable, there was an end of the matter, "because the quickest ship would win;" but if it were possible, then nothing could be so good as the small, swift, heavily armed vessel.
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