IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 205, 28 August 1909, Page 5

IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

A HOMOGENEOUS SCHEME. > FORCES STANDARDISED. NEW ZEALAND'S GIFT. 3 INDOMITABLE REPLACES DREADNOUGHT. .( , , " (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, August 27. s In the House of Commons to-day, Mr Asquith made a statement regarding the 1 results of the Defence Conference, and , was listened to with intense interest. Recalling the fact that the Conference was convened to discuss the general quesj tion of naval and military defence, with j special reference to the recent proposals made by Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, its decisions, as far as the delegates of the dominions were concerned, were subject to the approval of the various parliaments. The South African • delegates did not consider themselves in a position to submit positive proposals ' until the union was an accomplished fact. After the main conference at the For- ; eign Office, a military conference, held 7 at the War Office, led to an agreement 8 on the fundamental principles embodied 3 in the papers prepared by the general ? staff for the consideration of delegates. 5 The substance of those papers, which * would be included among the papers to * be published, was a recommendation - that without implying any interference with each dominion's complete control c over its military forces, these forces V should be standardised, the quest ion-s of t the formation of unitp. arrangements for x transport, the pattern of weapons, etc., being as far as possible r assimilated with those recently worked a out for the British Army. IMPERIAL MOBILISATION. ' Thus while the dominion troops would 3j in each case be rnWfvl for the defence ■ of the dominion concerned, it was made 3 readily practicable in ca-o of noeji fur any - dominion to mobilise and nsn O.em for the defence of the Empire us :i whole. The c military conference hnd ber;i entrusted • to a sub-conference of expert* from lir-ad-r quarters and the dominion*. ]ir"siil"<l over c by Sir YV. Nicholson, acting'for the first r time as chipf of the Imperial (Jeneral Staff, with the duty of working out the n detailed application of these principles. Th° creation, early in l<lo9. of the 1 m- , perial Oensml Pta.T wns thus brought 0 into active working. ]t was the result of the Crmfcrence held in 1907. The subconferertcp hnd reached fi complete agreement, their conclusions bPing finally approved by the main Conference and the committee of Imperial defence. The result was a plan of so organising , the forces of the Crown, wherever they 1 were, that, while preserving each doT minion's autonomy, should the dominions q desire to assist in the dofcncp of the a Empire in case of veal emergency, their , forces could bp readily combined into one q homogeneous Imperial army. 4 CO-OPERATION. 1 0 Dealing with naval defence, Mr. As--3 -juith said that the Admiralty's niftnoOJ randum which had been submitted to the _ I representatives of the dominions had G formed the basis of the preliminary conferences. The alternative methods which 3 j might be adopted by the dominion Governments in co-operation with Imperinl naval defence were discussed. New Zealand preferred to adhere to its present "' policy of contribution. Canada and. Aus--0 i tralia preferred to lay the foundation of j their own fleets. It was recognised that 0 in building fleets a number of conditions ' should be conformed to, and the fleet 1 must be of a certain size. In order to ** I offer a permanent career to those en- ! gaged in the service *he personnel should 6; be trained and disciplined under regulaj tions similar to the Royal Navy, in order 1J to allow of interchange and union be- ' tween the British and dominion services, - and witli the same object the standard 8 of the vessels and armaments should be >r uniform. 1 A PACIFIC FLEET. The remodelling of the squadrons in the Far East had beeu considered on the basis of establishing a Pacific fleet, consisting of three units in the East Indies, " Australia, and China Seas, each comprising, with some variations, one Indomitable, three cruisers of the Bristol type, six destroyers of the river class, and three of the class C submarines. '* The generous offers, first of New Zea- ,' land and then of the Commonwealth, to - contribute to Imperial defence by each j giving battleships, had been accepted with I the substitution of Indomitables far- ' moured cruisers) for battleships. These two ships were to be maintained, one on the China and one on the Australian station. Separate meetings had been held by the Admiralty with the representatives of Canada, and New Zealand, and general statements had been agreed upon in each case for further consideration by the respective Governments. Regarding Australia the suggested ari_ rangement was that with some tempore nry assistance from the Imperial funds r the Commonwealth should provide and a maintain the Australian unit of the Pacific fleet. y NEW ZEALAND'S CRUISER. New Zealand's contribution would be [ applied towards the maintenance of the China unit, of which some of the smaller vessels would have New Zealand as their headquarters, and New Zealand's armouri- ed cruiser would be stationed in China. h