AUSTRALIAN DEFENCES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 135, 8 June 1906, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCES.

THE NAVAL DIRECTOR'S PROPOSALS. IPRKSS ASSOCIATION.! LONDON, 7th June. The Morning Post advises the Imperial Government to encourage the Australian Commonwealth to adopt the naval defence proposals of Captain Cresswell, Naval Director of the Commonwealth. particulars' of the scheme. Captain Cresswell's report was made in Februarj last. The director stated the "case for Australian naval defence" at some length, basing his arguments upon the admitted fact that Australia's safety depends upon tJhe naval supremacy of the Empire. After emphasising tho necessity for concentration of effort, he said: — "Any great interest exposed to attack is a weakness, as attack or threatened attack upon i\) can only bo averted by smding force to its aid, and weakening the concentration. The greater the distance from tho main scene of war of such an exposed interest the heavieT will be the demand it must make upon the main sea force, both in time and in strength to be detached. Any succouring squadron must be so much longer away, and its numbers greater, since distanco adds so considerably to the enemy's chance of escape. Of all British possessions or dependencies, Australia ia fh© furthest from th 9 base of the Empire ; and ita intercolonial and oversea, trade is valued at £145,000,000, and almost completely waterborne. Hero wo have conditions that would be a severe tax on the main sia forces of the Empire. The distance is tho greatest possible, and (ihe value of tha prize offered to fln enemy ia probably unequalled.." The danger arising from the raids of single cruisers— .even. . improvised mer* chant steamers — was touched upon, and the fact that distance from Europe was nc longer a defence was brought to mind wilh a hint tlhat, it was common for vessels to steam to Australia, even to Melbourne, without coaling. The difficulty that would beset an enemy for want) of a coal base was ridiculed by Captain Cresswcll, who declared that "he would be on unenterprising officer indeed who could not with ease live on the country for coal." LOCAL MEASURES FOR DEFENCE. "The British fleet is tihe shield covering the Empire and all oversea possessions. If the shield is complete and impenetrable the defence question needs no further consideration. Defences either by sea or land are superfluous in Australia. It id, therefore, natural' to expect that evasion of the British fleet on the enemy's Coast or near the scene of operations will be by single ships or small squadrons of two or three cruisers, small in numbers, not necessarily so in tonnage." In conclusion, Captain Cresswell declared that "the solution of the Imperial ddfence problem of the future would seem to be in the development to thG limit of naval capacity of every portion of an Empire tjiat has beeh won by sea power," and in declaring for an Australian navy, ho repeats the recommenda.tiona made ill December, 1905, tbat tho Commonwealth should! be provided with 3 cruiser destroyers, 16 torpedo-boat destroyers, And 15 first) and second class torpedo-boats, to ' be provided over a period of seven years, at an average annual cost of £330,000. This he considered would provide a defence not designed as a force for action against hostile fleets or squadrons, whioh is the province of tihe Imperial fleet, but as a line necessary to ue within the defence line of tho Imperial fleet— a purely defensivo line, that will givo security to our naval bases, populous centres, principal ports, and commerce."