The Press Thursday, February 3, 1927. Our Defence Problem.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18916, 3 February 1927, Page 8

The Press Thursday, February 3, 1927. Our Defence Problem.

It is very encouraging that Mr Bruce Rnd Mr Coates should both be returning from the Imperial Conference with 1 ro strung a cjesir? to see the Dominions ' " shouldering the burdens of Empire." To many people this will seem to be the most useful result of the Conference, and it will certainly, in Australia and New Zealand, be the only immediately appreciable result. l<'or as Mr Bruce said on Monday in Auckland, neither Australians nor New Zealandprs have ever suffered much from an " inferiority complex," but the best of them suffer a good deal from the thought that they have never been sufficiently grateful for the privilege of Empire membership, and are not now bearing their full share of its responsibilities and costs. If the Conference has "done a groat deal to present de- " fence problems jn a different light," tlmt would have been worth going round the world for, even if all the other meetings and discussions had been a waste of time; but it is not sufficient that the leaders of the Government have been impressed. We must all as citizens and taxpayers face the fact that " the tremendous task of develop- " ing virgin countries," in n world in which, though we have "no ancient "grudge," we are exposed to many ancient jealonsies, demands definite wcriflcep, and that it is very important to consider whether contiguous areas like Australia and New Zealand might not with advantage pool their naval resources. It is certainly true in genera! that the'ideals and interests of Australia and New Zealand are the same, that they face the same dangers, and that neither could afford to see the other molested. Whether this means that they should deliberately co-operate in defence, to the extent even of merging their naval squadrons and pooling their resources'in docks and avsouals, it is impossible to say without a great deal more knowledge than any one at present possesses; though it certainly means that it would be prudent to begin thinking about it, or rather to begin thinking about it once more. For it is not of course a new question, or a very much more complex question today than it was twenty years ago. It is indeed rather curious that it was trouble in China which made naval defence a subject of debate again at the beginning of the century after a long period of economy and neglect, though it was the German menace in the Atlantic and Pacific which led eventually to a separation of the Australian and New Zealand units. Then, when the storm actually broke, Australian as well as New Zealand vessels became a portion of the Imperial Navy again, and the only outstanding fact since—if we except Lord Jellicoe's special report, whieh was not adopted—has been the sinking of the H.M.A.S. Australia her* self, Jn April, 1924, as part of the prioe Britain agreed to pay for adherence to the Washington treaties. Now that the problem is the price the Dominions are willing to pay for full partnership in tho Empire, Mr Brtice's invitation to a conference to deal with the "formulation of a defence pro- " gramme suitable to our national and "economic circumstances" should not bo lightly ignored.