GREAT BRITAIN AS A SEA POWER.
From the 'Nineteenth Century,' July, 1893.
The cost of the defence of the of British Empire.The gross cost to the British taxpayer of defending the British Empire amounted, for the year 1892-93, to over 35½ millions of pounds, 20½ millions of which (in round numbers) were devoted to expenditure on the Army, and 15 millions to expenditure on the Navy. The estimates for these two great services are passed through Parliament year after year with some slight criticism on points of detail. It is a cogent argument in favour of the policy of such measures as the Naval Defence Act that it compels Parliament from time to time to consider broadly the requirements of the country for the purposes of defence. On ordinary occasions few of those who are responsible for granting these enormous sums of money, fewer still among the general body of taxpayers, have paused to consider whether we are proceeding on the right principles in allocating the expenditure. It is true that there is a general feeling that for the 20 millions spent on the Army, the most efficient part of which is in India,and is paid for by the Indian taxpayer, the nation by no means gets its money's worth.
20
