AUSTRALIA AND DEFENCE.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 241, 18 October 1935, Page 4

AUSTRALIA AND DEFENCE.

If the present accelerated rate of defence expenditure continues, Australia by 1940 will have a ring of coastal defences, an augmented fleet, a strong air force, and munitions factories and supplies depots capable of servicing a substantial army, states an Australian representative of the 11 Christian Science Monitor.” “For the next estimates, Mr. Archdale .Parkhill, Minister for Defence, considers he will need £6,734,150 and for 1936-37, £7,113.898, more than double the amount two years ago. By 1940, if the necessity still remains, the vote will range from £10,000,000 to £11,000,000, it is estimated by close observers. The end of this plan will see Australia with a new 10,000-ton cruiser, and possibly another one. By 1940, even under present treaty limits, it is possible that Australia’s fleet will be modernised, and it is then, it is said, that attention will be paid to the ‘pocket battleship’ types being eveolved in Europe. Australia’s sea defence is still considered to lie with fast light vessels of the cruiser type, backed by an adequate fleet air arm, but the ‘pocket battleship’ has the speed, and can carry heavier guns than the present type of cruiser.”