AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 11460, 19 December 1902, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE.

Major-General Hutton'e defence scheme ior the Commonwealth, to wWeh. the New Zea-. land Commandant referred in an interview this week, aims at the unification of the various 6yet«ms of defence now existing in the separate Australian States. The n«w military organisation, as outlined in the details of the scheme which have just been made public, is on a much less expensive scale than was originally proposed by the Australian Commandant. Ite cost, indeed, would not exceed the reduced amount voted for defence purposes last eeeaion by the Federal Parliament. Even so, however, it is not' at all certain that the scheme will receive the ratification of Parliament without further reduction in scope, for a strong section at ths Federal House —a section which appears at present to hold the balance of power—is openly opposed to expenditure on any form of military organisation. The system which Major-General Hutton has in mind is am which shall be, in his own words, "el&etic, "capable of expansion, and which shall a carefully-constructed framework "into which the fighting material can be '"fitted when the time of action arrive*." Tlie idea is to have comparatively small peace establishment which can readily be brought to full strength in time of war. To facilitate speedy mobilisation it is proposed that the corps in time of peace shall possess nearly a full complement of trained officers and non-commissioned officers, with, approximately, one half of the rank and fth laid down for the war establishments. Thus, in the event of a national crisis, the untrained men who were "called to asms" could be drafted into the regimente already existing without eerious difficulty. Two kinds of peace establishments are proposed—garrison troops, allotted for local or State defence, and a field force, which would be capable of undertaking active service in any part of the Commonwealth or, if required, in any part of the world. The volunteers and the permanent force would form the garrison corps, while the mobile, field force, comprising six brigades of light horse and three brigades of infantry, with the necessary proportion of artillery, would consist entirely of militia or partklly-paid The organisation of the field force would be undertaken gradually, and great oara would be taken to make the force capable of expansion on the lines suggested by the Commandant. In time of peace the field force would number 15,890 men all told, and on a war footing these would be increased to 27,720. This idea of a mobile force especially designed for service abroad ie something n»w in colonial defence, and is evidently based on the scheme brought before tha Imperial Parliament by tfie Secretary of Wax last May. Mr Brodrick, it will be remembered, proposed to form cix army corps, each self-contained, in various parts of the EmpirV, which would be available for service in any part of the world. These conditions are complied with in the field force proposed by the Australian Commandant, save that in time of peace it would only exist in skeleton form. Mr Brodrick'e proposals, however, were not received with

any enthusiasm in the colonies, and it remains to be seen whether the Federal Parliament will sanction the creation of even a miniature ''standing army' , for service outeide the Commonwealth.