The Naval Annual, 1892. Edited by T. A. Brassey. (Griffin
and Co., Portsmouth.)—The Naval Annual continues to main- tain its character as a quite indispensable record of our naval activities, together with a comparison with the navies of foreign Powers. This latter is from the pen of Mr. C. Weyl. It has of necessity to be somewhat behind the account of our own Navy, the materials being less easily accessible, but the comparison may be practically relied upon. It would take too much space and time to go into the details of this most important subject, but we may quote what is a generally reassuring statement :- " On the whole, our present strength in ships, reinforced, as it has been, by the greatly increased effart of recent years, cannot be considered unsatisfactory." But it is added :- " The time has not come to relax our energies. We can- not stay our hand as long as other Powers, to whom a com- manding position on the seas is not, as with us, a vital interest, continue to push forward construction with vigour." (We have now in course of building and completing sixty ships of all kinds, as against thirty-five in France and twenty-two in Russia,—other Powers may be neglected ; it is against a combination of France and Russia that we must provide.) Unfortunately, a large re- duction in naval expenditure is one of the many " promissory- notes " that the party now about to come into power has given. The illustrations are a valuable feature of the volume.
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