AUSTRALIAN NAVAL DEFENCE.
(TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."'
Sin,—To-day, while citizen soldiers of the Queen are hurrying from the four corners of the earth to a common centre to fight a common foe, it is fitting that the whole question of Imperial defence should occupy the thoughts of those who hold dear the interests of the Empire. May I, therefore, as an Australian, seize this opportune moment to direct the notice of your readers to the proposals of the Australian Naval Conference held at Melbourne last August, which have of late been under discussion here?.— These proposals have been made by. the Naval Commandants of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia with a view to their adoption by the Federal Government of Aus- tralia, subject to the approval of the Imperial Government, as soon as Federation becomes an accomplished fact. Their object is the raising of an efficient naval force to be available for service in time of war. The recommendation is that the existing naval permanent establishments shall amalgamate, and that under this organisation a body of men shall be carefully and efficiently trained. The present machinery would thus fur- nish all the nucleus required to maintain the vessels in reserve, while the full complement necessary for active service would be made up by the extra men so trained. This force would be controlled by a Federal Discipline Act, governed by the Imperial Naval Discipline Act. The Conference suggest that the Admiralty should provide effective ships of war, to be stationed at the prin- cipal ports during peace time for drilling and training purposes, such ships to be subject to periodical inspection by the Naval Commander-in-Chief, and to be maintained by the Federal Government.
These suggestions have been described with scant ceremony as inadequate, inconsequent, and inadmissible in certain inspired newspaper quarters, but it by no means follows that they are so, and the process of argument by which the opinion is reached is not so conclusive as to dispose of the matter. The scheme is not a sudden idea ; it appears in the South Australian Parliamentary Report prepared in 1897 by Captain Cresswell, C.111.G , and it was placed before the First Lords of the Admiralty by the Right Hon. C. C. Kingston, of South Australia, at a conference of Premiers held in London in Jubilee year ; and the fact that it has been adopted by the members of the Naval Conference, whose suggestions are now under consideration, is evidence that it com- mended itself to the principal naval authorities in Australia. And further, this proposal to provide men instead of money con- tributions is popular in the Colonies. The mere payment of an annual sum of money for protection does not satisfy the independent instinct of the Australian while he feels that he can take a share in the actual dangers and difficulties of his own defence. The only alternative that has been submitted is that Australia should give a money contribution towards the support of the Imperial Navy,—an alternative that is locally even less acceptable than the plan which has been in operation for more than ten years of assisting financially in the maintenance of a special Australian Squadron. As pointed out by the Conference, when the Auxiliary Squadron was first established it was generally understood in Australia that the ships would form a means of drilling and training Australian seamen. Not a single step towards that object has been taken, and progress towards that end is now desired. Australia is anxious that her splendid material for seamen shall be turned to the best account, and she now suggests a method of doing it.
The war spirit is in the Colonial sample as surely as it is in the British bulk, and nothing that has happened in the experience of living man has given such satisfaction to the Colonial born as the opportunity they are now enjoying of showing their readiness to take their physical share of the Empire's burden. It is in this sentiment that the Empire's safeguard lies. It must be recognised, no statesman can afford to treat it as worthless, nor to overlook the desires and aspirations of Britain's oversee sons because no provision at present exists in the Navy regulations for their acknowledgment. Colonials do not want to pay a fee for the privilege of hiding behind their dear old mother's skirts and clogging her movements while they are conscious of their power to stand beside her and to help her when she is worried, and to do their share in taking care of themselves.
The scheme contemplates the raising of a force of three thousand efficiently trained seamen in time of need. Such a force to make up for waste after engagement, in the words of the Report, ought to be an infinitely greater and a more acceptable contribution to the strength of the Empire than a sum of money. The bald idea is here set forth that those interested in Imperial defence may give the subject the thought it deserves. The question must soon be dealt with. It cannot be supposed that federated Australia, with her immense coast-line and consider- able shipping trade, will be content to leave her defence upon the hands of the Imperial Government in the haphazard way that the disintegrated individual Colonies have done heretofore.
Will popular sentiment make it impossible for the mattes to be shelved or dealt with in any way that savours of ths regulation or red-tape spirit P—I am, Sir, &c., J. SADLER. London.
[In spite of expert opinion here, we entirely agree with those Australians who, like our correspondent, want to come into our naval fighting line, and not merely, as it were, to hire protection. And we believe that their view is as sound from the Imperial as from the local standpoint. We shall not have a ship less in the Imperial Navy if Australia has a local navy instead of contributing in money, but in case of need we shall have another reservoir of men. Decentralisa- tion, when not abused, is a good principle both in Navy and Army ; and if we have local Canadian and Australian navies, we shall have made a step in the right direction. We ought also to have a real local Indian navy.—En.
Spectator.]
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