27 JULY 1912, Page 2

On Tuesday in the House of Lords Lord Selborne criticised

Mr. Churchill's statement in the Commons on Monday. lie said that a proportion of thirty-three capital ships to Germany's twenty-nine at the end of 1914 would be inade- quate. He rejoiced that the Government had decided to station a battle-cruiser squadron in the Mediterranean, but he regarded this plan as, after all, only a make-shift. Battle- cruisers were not battleships. The present crisis was due, in his opinion, to the abandonment of the Cawdor programme. He and his friends would be satisfied that the intentions of the Government were perfectly sound if it were not that there appeared to be dissensions in the Cabinet. He recommended the immediate construction of a squadron of battleships to be paid for by a short loan.