On Monday in the Commons the Naval debate was continued,
when Mr. Churchill answered the criticisms of his recent statements. It was untrue to say that the Navy was short of its proper complement by twenty thousand men. Such statements, though perhaps well meant, did much harm abroad. As regards the criticism that our margin of strength would fall below the 60 per cent. superiority in Dreadnoughts to
Germany which he postulated in March 1912, he pointed out that our actual programmes of construction were not 60 but 80 per cent. better than those of Germany. He also argued that a 50 per cent. superiority in Dreadnoughts was sufficient in the North Sea. If the Dominion ships were reckoned in, there would be a 50 per cent, margin there, and we should have an average of from six to eight capital ships for service in more distant waters. The figures are no doubt true, but they do not satisfy the conditions which we understood Mr. Churchill to set forth in March 1912. The Dominion ships are, and ought always to be, intended for an extra margin of safety. A tremendous and radical mistake will be committed if they are looked upon as grants from the Dominions in aid of normal expenditure.
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