AUSTRALIAN.

Grey River Argus, 25 September 1909, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN.

Press Asscciation— FAfxtric Copyright COLONIAL D EF E N G E. MR AS.QUITH'S SPEECH CR1T1- .«..-■- CISED. ..,' ,■.■:•■." : : '-rrJJ ; -'W" : ' : ' PERTH, Sep. 24/ ■vrtT-he, -Press-' Association' oorresponv]dent under date London 2y\h; writes that Mr Asquith's statement in the House of Commons last- evening showed that he was not acquainted with the general results of the Conference on Empire Defence, but that there is more than one hiatus .and the eihics can only be filled when the omcial documents are published in the autumn. ..The military side of the conference was a smiaH matter which created no difficulties, arid no su-rges-tion was made for interfering- with the control of the Dominions in anything .relating to their c".n rlrniirs or- to every detail of every r d, viz. ,; length of service, nature -periods of. drill; streng-thvofSestabrtfhmerits. With regard to aljfrthese vhe colonies and dominions were undisturbed, but. im-pdrta^j/susrffestipns had :o be discussed respecting- standardising the forces anq-f relating../ to such matters as uniformity of the ; pattern of weapons and cf .the drill, the formation of unions, besides Questions of transport and other ro|n;gs| a.ffscting an assimilation ito the; Kfgrfe' army, 50.. that if ever the forcesv of the domin-j ions had- to be joined with those of Britain or India, there "will be a co--ordination and unify. The work of the dominions will hereafter be directed not" only by their own Home defences, 6u£ tb the creation of an Imperial Army. If New Zealand or any other dominion intro"duces universal . military service she will be able to dp so on her own independent lines. The naval work 'of the conference was of higher importance than anything-. Referring to the. military affairs the gathering sprang primarily out of New Zealand's offer of a Dreadnought, followed by a similar undertaking o& the part of the Commonwealth; , . ■■- THE DREADNOUGHT OFFER. It is no secret that those offers created : an embarrassment to the iome Government. They were never expected. The historic speeches by Messrs Asquith and McKennri on the rapidly growing- strength of the German Army would arouse such a patriotic response among the colonies and as an understanding they desired to bear sbine of the burdens of the! Old Country. Expert opinion was decjdely against the acceptance of anything so ' large as" a Dreadnought unless ir „ could be used in the Home waters and be counted on it as" justification; for reckoning it-as a replacement of Home ibattieships. Public opinion resented that aspect of the gi|t. Moreover ; all naval men who looked at an increase of German cruisers w^ere concerned as ■to the necessity for 4 'pre|trving thr trade routes. It was obvious to" everybody who had .access to official opinion from the day the Conference was sum raoned to the last hour of its svtt m-r . was that the Home Government would strive to convert) the offers "of 'battleships' into cruisers. . There was less difficulty in this respect with the Commonwealth than with New Zealand. Sir Joseph" Ward, who':\had~the advantage of being his own Prime Minister,, was capable of speaking for his. Government. He held strongly to his original off er. # .The Commonweakh invited him to join in the creation of an Australian' Navy to be manned and trained indapendenitly of the Home, Government/ but Sir Joseph preferred to rely upon thp Imperial fleets. It follows, therafp're, that New Zealand's aitfattgemehifcs wdtih out author' ties differs in many respects from that of the Comomriwealth. It is this that, besides continuing the old annual subvention of ,£lOO,OOO, New Zealand will present .the Empire with a battleship. Sir Joseph would have preferred a Dreadnought. Amongst more or less inspired paragraphs that had been circulated respeoting the. doings of this secret conference, one was issued after last sitting, which distinctly asserted that Sir Joseph War* hadAadhered to his Dreadnought offer 'to the last. ■ This statement, which ought to be correct, makes. known, tibat the New Zealhd donation ovef , and above the annual subvention \v;as'^loo,ooo will be a large armoured cruiser, of trY In- ■ domitable class. Cruisers like this i ship will be attached to the China unit of the Pacific P|4etj and become its flagship and .the flagship of the East "Indian and Australian- units. In fact of "aJl unit's of the Pacific, fleet whenever they are togethier, a China unit iwill not often, be seen in New . ; Zealand waters. It was .. arranged that : some of llie smaller vesesls .of the China unit and small \ cruisers and '. submarines shall have their head-quar- ; ters in a New Zealand port. : < (Reed. 24th, 6.55 p.m.) PERTH, Sep. i "Correspondent" says that one im- : portant .subject connected with the ■ military question relates to the interchange of officers of the various do- ; minions so as to be able to set up our General Staffs, and colonial officers ' will be interchanged with officers from > the General Staff at Home. This'p'art i of the subject is at present in the suggestive form. The only visits will be- '■ those of Sir John French to Canada and Lord Kitchener to New Zealand and Australia, who will give shape to many of the suggestions which were under discussion by the Conference. Respeoting military matters, the interchange of officers, and to what exteut it can be adopted, will be m the forefront of the discussions that will arise B^pon the visits of those two officers. '.-.l hough the organisation and co-ordii<a,tion' were great topics under consideration at the recent Conference, the questions of strMegi^were not wholly excluded from^bnie of the sittings. There were of: course no war plans under review, but it was necessary to anticrpate in what direction and under what conditions help could be mutually given. At present the Empire is on very good -terms with G^irmany, but he would be a- foolish 1 1 Australian whe shut his eyes to what is Hoing on in New Guinea waters as; a German place of arms, which is there : :pefng established, is not intended for a Teuton picnic. Again, though Japan is to-day our ally, and- a very loyal ally, rhe deed of partnership will expire before many years are over. Japan (like Germany) requires an outlet for. her population and the Northern parts of the Australian Continent might prove very good friend. Such a contingency applies also to the case Vof rejuvenated China, especially if China becomes able to rejuvenate herself at the same rale and with the same completeness that Japan' has done. New. Zealand may also some day have trouble with an invader. . Probably these causes of anxiety, are far off, but it is the duty of the army and navy to anticipate such events. It should not -surprise us therefore if such subjects as are named were discussed by some of the delegates ,and present to the minds of others when deliberated upon, widespread scheme of Imperial defence. The prospective services of "Australia to India, which would be in the foreroat of such deliberations before the present Anglo-Russian entente was sei up, can now be placed in the background. The security Of India has also been made more complete by the defensive schemes -of Lord Kitchener, but the existing relations with Russia may not last many years. Russia it forced to be quiet to-day because her army is in a transitional state; but she has always had, and always will, have many ambitious, and" provocative officials who will lead the Empire into trouble, as they have done in the past. Stonewalled, -by German diplomacy in JSurope. Russia may -s^me;' day revive Jntriguos m the fertile atmosin'.erc -A Afghanistan and, aided by modern rail way. transport, she may once .nore make the riorth-^vest frontier of , India "a^scene 'Of trouble to us. These are con^ngencies wJiere'-India may \.c of help; to Austiraliar in L her north?rL territories, and where on the 'other h'^ncl, Australia may be of assistan-:* 1 to India. Though strategic plans form, ed 'no part of thb Conference programme, ■;• the objective' .xif the Conference was based upon |h^e;ContiiiK-eht necessities of the Enjjflre's defcin^, which would, be at the'-xfoot of all rht plans of campaign. v : The case of the Commonwealth is wholly different to that of New Zealand. T&e resp'onsibiliJties of the Do mjniori end with the provision of tht Dreadnought, cruiser or large armoured" cruiser; whicfiever you may call, re The Commonwealth", like. Canada, p;efers to lay the foundation of her own - 'fleet. ;,',-.' : ' " .'-'■ ' : ■- ''• ,-^- '" - ■'". ■■, (Reed. 24th, 11.5 'p/-m.) The Cape delegates "could do npvhi»g at the present stage; for their act of Union had not- -yet becdmie ' law. ; . The plans of the •Commonwealth will vir- , tiialy reverse the old relations that exJisted between Australja and vthe- Mother Country. The Island Continent will hereafter, have its own fleet. It will commence with 'a large armoured cruiser similar to|xthat W New Zealand, and an 1 IndQipitai^le., three-sec-ond-class cruisers.vOT thei Bristol type, six destroyers of r^hfeßirer. class, and three submarinesV : .# : thlv'.'C'' ; class. According to Mr ;-Asquftii's statement the men will be trained and disciplin«d like those of the: Royal Navy. " A Naval College will: /He:- B&Tt oi the future deveopments:^«f the scheme. There will be an Aiistralian Admiraltaken in the first instance from the Royalt Navy, and the rates cf pn\ will be somewhat higher than vhos of the British Admiralty. There will be an exchange ofe^fh^ers between .. ■ . ■ .-• v& . '