"Here is where we come to the! Navy. After all. we have a Navy! (cheers), Some people seem to forget that, We muse remind them. For more than 30 years, I have been concerned in discussions about the possibility of an oversea invasion. I took the responsibility on behalf of the Admiralty at the beginning of the last war of allowing all regular {troops to be sent out of the country although' our. territorials had only just been called up and were quite rained, Therefore. this island was several months practically de-udod of fighting troops. miralty had confidence then in their ability to prevent a mass invasion even though the Germans had a magnificent battle fleet in proportion, of ten to 16, and even though Were capable of fighting an engagement any day, whereas now they only have a couple of heavy ships worth speaking of.
"We are also told that the Italian Navy is also coming to gain sea sup-priority' in thave waters, that seriously intended 1 shall be delighted to of a safeguarded passage through the Stiaits of Gibraltar in order that he may play "the part to which he aspires. There is. genuine curiosity in the British Fleet to find out when ther the Italians are up to the level at which they were inthe last 3 or whether they have fallen of at all, laughter "Therefore. it seems to me that. as seaborne invasion on al scale is concerned. we are far} more capable of meeting it today than we were at many periods of the last war und during the early mouths of this war before our other troops
abroad and are still abroad. peditionary. were already were trained while the British Ex-
The Navy have never pretended to bbe able to prevent raids by bodies of five or ten thousand men flung sivldenly across and thrown ashore eral points on the coast on dark nights or foggy' mornings.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.