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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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C.O. 885
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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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NAVAL DEFENCE. You would find they would cast all those narrower ideas to the winds; they would be ready to do anything, go anywhere; but in times of peace the Australians are very narrow in their contributions to anything. should have difficulty.
I feel I
The Secretary of State.] It seems at first sight to persons who are not acquainted with the strategical considerations which move the authorities in considering the general question of the defence of the Empire; it does seem not at all unnatural that those who contribute towards this defence should think that they ought to take care that they will be defended. Upon that principle, as well as upon the principle that the money which they contribute should be spent locally, I can understand the objection which the What I want Captain Australian colonies feel to remove these restrictions. Beaumont to do is to put clearly before us the considerations which move the For instance, strategical authorities here to object to that arrangement. suppose war breaks out, what is the Admiralty going to do with regard to the defence of the Australian colonies; how far would this arrangement help them, or how far would it assist them ?
Captain Beaumont.] It is very difficult, of course, to foresee what the action of the Colonies will be in war, but the tendency in peace is to localise the use of the ships; to prevent their being used as squadrons to operate against an enemy.
The Secretary of State.] But in time of peace there is no enemy.
Captain Beaumont.] But in time of peace they require the ships to be actually used in the waters, and to appear in each Colony at intervals.
The Secretary of State.] I want to separate the two things. What is your objection as a naval man to such localisation of the force in time of peace? Then we can consider what objection there is to its localisation in time of
war.
Captain Beaumont.] The station has now become large, the interests are large, and the warships that are maintained on the station are just sufficient for the Imperial duties, and to remove them, and to restrict their use in time of peace, is naturally inconvenient. The service is not conducted with a due regard to the Imperial interests as a whole, as it might be if those restrictions were not constantly being urged.
The Secretary of State.] What are you speaking of when you speak of the station ?
The station extends to
Captain Beaumont.] The Australian station. almost the whole of the South Pacific.
The Secretary of State.] Then the Imperial interests require that a con- siderable squadron should always be in Australian waters; how does this arrangement, in any way, interfere with this.
Captain Beaumont.] Ostensibly placed there under the Imperial authority, the ships are, and should be, therefore counted as part of the squadron, and should do their share in visiting the islands, and protecting British interests in the farther and most distant parts of the station.
Sir John Forrest.] They are always round the Pacific Islands; they never come to us I know.
Sir John Bramston.] I think what in your mind is not quite clear, Mr. Chamberlain, is this that the Australian station comprises half the Pacific. Therefore the waters of the Australian station are larger, much larger, than the Australian waters as regarded by the Colonies, and the duties of the squadron are very large, and carry them very much to the different islands in the Pacific outside.
Sir George Turner.] And to limit that we agreed to pay a considerable sum every year.
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Sir John Bramston.] You agreed to pay a considerable sum every year in NAVAL DEF ČE. order that the ships may be mainly employed on your coasts.
Sir George Turner.] A certain number of ships.
Sir John Bramston.] A certain number of ships; the duties of the squadron extend far beyond the waters in which you were to place those ships.
Sir John Forrest.] You do not complain of that, do you?
The Secretary of State.] What I would like to ask is this: the interests of the Australasian Colonies are very great in those islands in the Pacific. They are our principal interest. We have interfered again and again, and we are likely possibly to be called upon to interfere in the future, in order to secure those islands, and other islands which are at present independent practically, as part of the future inheritance of Australia. Therefore it is the interest of the Australasian Colonies that the flect which is called the Australian fleet should at all events be permitted to visit all the islands in which those interests exist.
Sir John Forrest.] They do so.
Mr. Reid.] It is only reasonable. No reasonable man could object.
The Secretary of State.] If Captain Beaumont's position is as Sir John Bramston says, that the limits are too narrow, I imagine that there would be no difficulty whatever. We are now speaking of times of peace-in extending those limits so as to take in all in which Australasia is interested.
Mr. Reid.] Oh, no doubt.
Sir George Turner.] What we are afraid of is this: we are afraid of being in this position. Suppose a war broke out, these vessels might be taken away altogether from Australia and used to attack the enemy's commerce in another part of the world, leaving us defenceless, after we had paid a very large sum. That is our fear.
The Secretary of State.] Pardon me, Sir George; that is the second point, to which I am coming. I want first to deal with the state of things in time
peace, when there is no enemy.
of
Way
Mr. Seddon. That was the condition mentioned in the agreement; during the time of peace these vessels should be employed in the same As are other vessels of war on this station. That was the memorandum from the Governor, I think, of New South Wales to the other commissioners, and was agreed to, and the limits are now fixed under the agreement, and if this means an extension of the limits, the Admiralty should have sent proposals to us to see whether they are reasonable, and then it is for us to say whether or not we agree to them, if that is really what is to be done and instead of doing it in that way, to give them to the admiral of the station to do as he likes. If it is only done with a view to getting an extension of limits in time of peace, let us have it; let us see what the limits are, and we will deal with it on fair lines. The Premiers should understand that the following is what was aimed at: "That a sufficient naval defence force should be raised and equipped and manned by the Imperial Government for the defence of Australasia that was the footing that that started upon, that was the inception, and I say that any departure from that is a departure altogether from the arrangement, because there you have the first condition laid down by men who were sent here: "That a sufficient naval defence force should be raised, equipped, and manned by the Imperial Government for the defence of Australia." That was the commencement; that was the spirit in which the whole thing was entered into; and the agreement which was entered into by the Colonies, and I have no hesitation in saying that kept on those lines the Colonies are still prepared to contribute their fair quota for the maintenance and the equipment
We pay 5 per cent. on the total cost.
of that naval defence force.
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