Important statements were made by Grand-Admiral von Tirpitz and Hen•
von Jagow, the Foreign Secretary, in the debate on the Navy Estimates in the Budget Committee of the Reichstag on Wednesday. Grand-Admiral von Tirpitz declared that while the ratio of sixteen to ten offered by Great Britain was still acceptable to Germany, the idea of a "holi- day year" could not be realized. Positive proposals had not yet reached Germany, but if they did they would certainly be examined with goodwill. His view of armament expenditure fully bore out Sir Edward Grey's view that the problem was not so much Anglo-German as European, and he maintained that during the last five years the Naval Estimates of foreign Powers had grown much more rapidly than those of Germany. Herr von Jagow described present Anglo-German relations as really good. He confirmed what Grand-Admiral von Tirpitz had said about the "naval holiday," adding that it seemed to him difficult to secure the realization of Mr. Churchill's proposal, which, so far as he knew, had not been very cordially supported by British public opinion. These statements, taken together with Sir Edward Grey's speech, furnish the best answer to the arguments for reduction put forward by.the speakers at the meeting held at the Queen's Hall on Tuesday evening.
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