Nothing had happened in the past year to lead to
any alteration of the numeriml programmes submitted to the House in March and July 1912. The British programme, as revised to meet the increase in Germany's new construction for the six years under review, would aggregate twenty-five ships against fourteen, and two ships would be added to this total for every extra ship laid down by Germany, as well as any ships we might have to build in con- sequence of naval developments in the Mediterranean. The ship presented by the Malay States and the three Canadian ships would also be regarded as additional, and they proposed to join them with the 'New Zealand' in a new squadron based upon Gibraltar, to be called the Imperial Squadron. Returning to the proposed "naval holiday," Mr. Churchill said there could be no going back in 1913, but if Germany desired to postpone or cancel her programme of construction for 1914, she has only to let it be known to secure a mutual cessation, though he admitted that such an arrangement would involve other Powers.
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