AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21454, 30 March 1933, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE

NEW POLICY LIKELY PLAN INVOLVING £7,000,000 STRENGTHENING ALL FORCES [from our own correspondent] .SYDNEY, March 23 The Federal Government seems at last to have become impressed wilh the need of strengthening tho defences of the Commonwealth and there is keen interest in the report that discussions are proceeding with the British Government on the basis of a £7,000,000 plan. The idea, it is said, is to bring the defences of the Commonwealth up to minimum requirements over a period of seven years .without infringing any of the disarmament obligations. The plan involves complete re-arming of tho Australian coastal defences. If the plan is adopted the Commonwealth Parliament will be asked to approve in the Estimates for 1933-34 enough additional expenditure to re-arm the forts at Albany, Sydney and Newcastle—the three vital points—with 16in. guns of the latest' type. It is said that the Australian authorities were impressed with the fact that Honolulu has been re-armed recently with guns of this type. At present the Australian ports would be outranged by any attacking fleet armed with modern naval guns. Minister's Statement Tho Minister for Defence, Sir George I'earce, gave the first hint of what wa3

intended, but he avoided giving details.He said:—"l hope that Australia will be in a position to provide more money for defence next year. It is often forgotten that Australia has made substantial progress since the war in one avenue of defence preparation—the manufacture of munitions. This is a most important adjunct to the fighting forces."

In consultation with the Navy, Army and Air Force, Sir George has been busy preparing the defence estimates and it is believed the task is now almost completed.The £1,000,000 a year which the taxpayers will be asked to provide for defence will be additional to the £3,000,000 now spent annually. In recent years noth-

i;ng has been spent in replacing wastages in equipment. Even the additional amount will not bring Australia back to the defence expenditure of 1929. At the beginning of the financial stringency the Scullin Government cut defence expenditure by £1,000,000 a year,, and later by another £500,000. The present Government has retained those cuts and actually in-

creased them by £IOO,OOO. Cruiser Squadron Needed The Navy Board has urged that g cruiser squadron, working in conjunction with Australia's defended ports, is the minimum required for safety.. It has been suggested that Australia will borrow three or even four cruisers from Great Britain. These would replace the Australia and the Despite the high cost of

shipbuilding in Australia, it is -suggested that the Commonwealth will decide to build a cruiser of its own at the Cockatoo Dockyards in Sydney. Negotiations are also proceeding for the loan or gift of four destroyers to replace the seaplanecarrier Albatross. The plan makes no provision for submarines. It can safely be said that Australia will not agree to any plan to pay a subsidy to the Royal Navy, as New Zealand does. That arrangement was never satisfactory to Australia, and it is now admitted that only the presence of Australia's own ships in 1914 saved Australian cities from attack by German raiders. Aerial defences will be amply provided for in the new plan.