But a programme of four ships to be laid down
this year does not by any means exhaust the requirements of the situa- tion. As we have explained fully elsewhere, the speeches made by Ministers themselves, and by Mr. Churchill in particular, postulate more ships to take the place of the three Canadian ships which are not forthcoming for " whole- World " purposes; and the needs of the Mediterranean cannot be neglected. How these extra requirements will be met we have yet to learn. There is no doubt that the country will demand that they shall be satisfied without ambiguity. Naturally Mr. Lloyd George is put about at having to make good a large deficit, and his New Year's outburst may be fairly taken now as a cry of vexation and not as a fixed determination to lead a losing cause. The excess of Naval expenditure over the Estimates in the pastyear is said to have been between three and'five millions.
