August 13, Ir is, to say the least, dishearten-in after the ylow of pleasure with which we have read of the King Alfred's extraordinary target practice at Weihaiwei and the superb pageant of the Naval Review at spithead, to be forced to recognize that the present condition of our Navy does not reach that standard which the safety of Great Britain demands. The charges of maladministration which have been ap= pearing in the Home Press for some months, though far from free of the regrettable taint of purty ins, have been re-infareed by the opinions of men who are equally sure of facts and sincere in purpose. More than this the campaign has received official recognition in the searching inquiries which were put by Earl Cawdor in the House of Lords to the First Lord of the Admiralty, and in the latter's reply which was admirably frank and comprehensive, although in the nature of things it could not be called quite satisfactory But before entering into any discussion of what is or is not wrong with the Navy. let us once again affirm the absolute necessity of treating all al questions entirely apart from party politics, That necessity obvious that it is as income lo as it is unfortunate that any one should have been blind to it. In Original from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.