London, Aug. 25.
Compared with the great Naval Powers to-day, said Sir Bolton Eyres~ Monsell, First Lord of the Admiralty, Britain had only about half a navy, short time ago, a small alr force, vd. a very small army, People in this country, declared the Minister, were s0 accustomed to being sheltered through the ages by the Navy that they forgot it, just as they forgot the air they breathed, Sir Bolton, who was speaking at a Conservative gathering at Blenheim, Oxfordshire, the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, continued: "In spite of our greater responsibilities, we are spending a smaller proportion of our national income on armaments than other country in the world. "We have reduced our armaments to the point of danger, and we are bound to take good the deficiency in our fight ing forces.
"It you read history, you will find that nearly always in peace time people have let down the Navy, and, when they found it could not carry out its duties, someone was hanged. Generally, it was the wrong person—and that makes me nervous."
The Navy, he continued, was and must remain the chief guarantor the food and raw materials for this country.
Tue whole of the British Empire—one quarter of the globe—depended entirely for its defence on the British Navy, and if ever the Navy were unequal to its task, God help the peace fof the world—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.