STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 115, 13 May 1909, Page 5

STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER.

(Received May 13, 10.20 a.m.) MELBOURNE, May 13. With reference to the smuggling of arms into Afghanistan, the Minister for Defence states that before selling old rifles the barrels were bent and otherwise treated so as to render them ineffective for shooting purposes. He feels sure that the rifles referred to in the cablegram were not bought in Australia; at least, not since Federation. In military circles it is held that the only possible chance of the rifles being Australian is that they are so old as to have been put out of use long before the Federation era.