It follows from the statements made on Tuesday by Lord
Northbrook in the Upper House, and Sir T. Brassey in the Lower, that the Government propose to spend £5,525,000 in addition to the Estimates, on the Navy, naval guns, and defences for coaling-stations. Of this sum, L1325,000 will be devoted to fortifications, 21,000,000 to guns, and £3,100,000 to shipbuilding,—the latter including three ironclads, two rams, five armoured cruisers, ten swift smaller cruisers, and thirty torpedo-boats. The whole amount will be spread over five years, and provided for in the annual estimates. The state- ment was accepted in both Houses with satisfaction, as a fair compromise between inaction and giving way to the cry of the alarmists, who have, however, on two points made out a case. The Admiralty would not ask an extra million for ordnance unless they were behindhand with their guns, and ought to have proposed to supply more torpedo-boats without waiting for an agitation. The most difficult question of all, the expediency of building so slowly, is one on which the public cannot form, and ought not, therefore, to express, an opinion.
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