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3. A volunteer signal and look-out service, as proposed, would be a most useful adjunct to the defence, but the strength required for such a service would depend on the system of look-out stations which might be concerted, and this points to the necessity for a carefully worked out and detailed Defence Scheme. This as yet does not exist in the Colony.
4. Turning to the Report of the Military Commandant, no mention is made of the nature or amount of target practice carried out by the militia artillery, and a possible inference is that the allowance of practice ammuni- tion has been retrenched in their case also, as in the case of the naval forces.
5. The Committee fully concur in the general proposal that, with a view to increasing the militia reserve, engagement should be for a combined period with the active force and with the reserve. This is the rule in the neigh- bouring Colony of Victoria, where engagement is for five years, viz., three years with the active militia, and two years with the militia reserve. When introducing changes, the importance of assimilating the conditions of service in the several Australian Colonies, so as ultimately to establish uniformity, as far as local peculiarities will admit, should be steadily kept in view.
6. The Committee understand that the question of the exchange of the two new 9-2-inch B.L. guns with the Imperial Government for a secondary modern armament was considered by the War Office a short time ago and negatived. As pointed out in their remarks of May 1890, the Committee are of opinion that these B.L. guns are unnecessarily heavy-6-inch B.L. guns would be sufficiently powerful-but as they have been provided it would seem advisable to retain them at Port Adelaide, to be mounted in or near Fort Glanville as funds become available. All immediate expen- diture, however, should, as pointed out by the Commandant, be directed towards improving the organization, training, and equipment of the defence forces.
The stock of small-arm ammunition it is noticed is very low.
7. The importance of having a well-matured Defence Scheme is dwelt on by the Commandant in his remarks on organization. As the absence of any such Scheme in South Australia has been made known by its own military adviser, the Committee have only to urge that the Colonial Government should take prompt steps to supply this deficiency.
The points to be attended to in working out such a Defence Scheme, and the scale of attack to which the Colony is liable, have been set forth in the inclosures of the Circular of the Secretary of State for the Colonies of the 18th November, 1886. It was therein laid down that the only hostile force which could reasonably be expected to be employed against Australian ports, as long as our navy held the seas, was limited to a few roving cruisers or armed merchant-steamers which in the early stages of a war might chance to temporarily evade Her Majesty's ships; and the probabilities of an attack even of this nature may now be considerably discounted owing to the increase since made in our naval strength in Australian waters by the addition of the auxiliary squadron. These considerations point to moderate measures of defence as being sufficient to meet all requirements. It rests with the Colony to investigate the localities where attack of this minor nature may be anticipated, and to perfect its organization and mobilization system so that an adequate defence may be available at short notice. These necessary measures for the actual defence of the Colony itself seem all that is at present possible, though the future expansion of the defence forces so as to admit of supplying a South Australian contingent to the proposed Federal Australian force should not be lost sight of when the finances of the Colony assume a more flourishing condition.
August 20, 1894.
(Signed)
W. PEACOCKE, Secretary,
Colonial Defence Committee.
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PRINTED AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE BY T. HARRISON.—7/9/94.
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