AUSTRALIA’S DANGER

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 July 1936, Page 10

AUSTRALIA’S DANGER

; “NEED FOR 1000 'PLANES". ' SYDNEY, June 20. I Australia's dangerous position, ow- ! ing to her lack of trained men, war i material and equipment), was dertlt i with in air. military, and naval rej ports submitted at a meeting of the [Australian Development and Defence • League. ■ The opinion was expressed Jjy Mr. [T. A. J. Leech, lecturer in Civil EnIgineering and Geoffrey Sulman me- • morial lecturer in aeronautics at Sydi ney University, that at least 1000 I ’planes, besides other arms of defence, were necessary for the adequate protection of Australia against invasion.

Mr. Leech said that a balanced air force would comprise about 300 reconnaissance ’planes, 300 torpedo bomb'ers, and 300 lighters. The class of I machine Australia was importing from I Britain was unsuitable for Australian i defences. London was only 400 miles ' from German aerodromes. British I machines, therefore, did not need a | long range. An attacK on Australia jcould come from a very large sector, land therefore the, range of the do- ' fending machines must ne much greater. I Colonel Wall, reporting on (he trans-

'port service, said Iha.L it would be imI possible to shift one division of men ! any distance in New South Wales. There were no vehicles available for (heir transport. In any case, there would be no equipment for the men.

VOLUNTARY SYSTEM I j Major C. C. Armitage (retired) sec- ' rotary of the league,' in a report on the I military side of the defence forces, i said it was evident that the present [volunteer system was being starved to I death, and never would improve uniless it was altered. The volunteers

■ were not supplied with modern equipI men). As a mat ter of fact, most of •the equipment was pre-war. The pay ! lor the private had been brought down 'from 7 Z - and 8/- a day of eight hours ito -1/- a day. Owing to the want of •proper equipment, the drill was unin- ■ teresting, and many privileges, such ias free technical training, which ■ should be given to them, were not giv- ; en on account of expense. ! “It' is obvious that the Government is trying to save money, and, by doi in'g so, will be risking' the lives of all our soldiers,” he declared. “For it would be nothing less than murder to ■allow our men to fig'lit with the present equipment and training.” "Every [man, woman, and child should be proi perly equipped and trained against gasi attacks. Any further delay would be • dangerous. ■ “Owing to improved poison gases, it; has been taught in all modern schools ; that large guns should be mobile, othierwise. they can be put. out of action i tor “blanketed”) by poison gases put Ito windward of the guns. Australia’s I coastal defences could be easily put ■ out of action. ' • ‘(As far as we can learn, no attempt I has been made to equip a suitable num- [ her of motor vehicles with armoured bodies for mechanical war, and w,e certainly do not have men trained in any number for modern mechanical! war; nor have we the machine-guns and anti-tank guns necessary, nor the ammunition for these guns. As petrol may be scarce, it Is advisable, to make arrangements to use “propeller gas,” as tried in Erance with success, and men must be trained to use their cars with this fuel.’

Lieutenant-Commander Mackenzie said that he and Rear-Admiral Feakes had considered the question of naval training, and would point out that i there were many trained naval men ' in Sydney now unemploj’ed whose services could be availed of. He em-

phasised that Sydney had large complete naval training establishments for all purposes, and that, full use should be made of them. AIRCRAFTSMEN NEE DED DARWIN, June 19. The need for fuller provision in the technical schools in Australia for the, training of pilots and aircraft.,tech-, iiicians was emphasised by the Minis-, ter for Education (Mr.. Drummond.),, who left Darwin this morning by-.the. motorship Merkur on his way to Lon: don. He said ■ that, the present provisitni in New South ..Wales was painfully inadequate. and tie would make a sHtdr [of Hi is as'pect of education-in .England, I Mr. Drummond said the present pro- | vision in New South Wales urgently [demanded immediate attention as part of the geheriai re-organisation scheme of technical .education, to which his. Government -hud already set its hand. Re-orgaajf;it:iofl could only be immediately and effectively implemented, byFederal and State .co-operation, ...Tlte: remarks of Mr. Parkhill, published in the “Herald,” indicated that he was. fully cognisant of the urgent necessity for dealing with the matter. In New South Wales, said Mr. Drummond, despite every effort to make reasonable provision, only 10 aircraft I engineers and 50 mechanics were in training. This was'a parlous position, but the fact was that the resources of the State were inadequate immediately to improve it. Recent research had shown that the problem of New South Wales regarding inadequate provision for technical education was coriuhon to all Australia, particularly in respect'to aviation. It was a matter for every State and the* Commonwealth.