Colonial Contributions to the Imperial Navy.

If all iiritish colonies were to contribute to the support of the Imperial navy in proportion to their means, the present naval supremacy of the Empire would be considerably strengthened, and would therefore be more likely to be maintained. The present population of the United Kingdom is about 48,000,000. The annual cost of the navy, as we have seen, is about £41,000.000, or nearly £1 per head of the population, and almost the whole of this cost is borne by the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland. We can take it, therefore that, in the meantime, this cost is not as yet too burdensome to the British taxpayer; although, as has already been pointed out, the burden, if it goes on increasing, will necessarily, sooner or later, reach straining, if not breaking point.

Any contributions made by the colonies towards the support of the navy, might very well, therefore, be either an addition to this sum, or a proportionate part of it, or of whatever larger sum might be required. A satisfactory scheme of voluntary contributions can no doubt be formulated. The total white population of the great self-governing colonies of the Empire is roughly about 15,000.000, so that it can be readily seen that even a small per capita contribution from these would materially lighten the burden of Imperial naval defence; while at the same time it might materially increase the strength and efficiency of the navy. In any case, the principle itself, page 13 that each unit of the Empire should contribute in proportion to its means to the general defence, is certainly a sound one. At present we have an example of how the principle has been already applied in the case of