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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTIC.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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Enclosure 2.
Note on a proposed Central Arsenal for the Australian Colonies.
1. Such an Arsenal should be established on a site having immediate access to a good harbour for facilities of transport. At the same time it should not be on the coast in any position where it would be exposed to attack by troops landed from ships or to bombardment from the sea.
2. The objects to be attained by the establishment of an Arsenal are-
(i.) The manufacture of all such articles of war material and equipment as could be
economically made in Australia.
(ii.) The execution of all ordinary repairs to guns, mountings, and small-arms, and
war material generally.
(iii.) The storage and care of all war material not in actual use by the ships or troops of the several Colonies; and of any reserves of ordnance and ammunition, &c., which it may be thought advisable to maintain.
(i.) As regards manufacture, it is not likely that the possible demands would warrant the establishment, at present, of factories for guns and their carriages, or for the manufacture of small-arms, or of projectiles for ordnance, but there appears no reason to doubt that all harness and saddlery, accoutrements and stores of a like nature, could be manufactured locally, and that there would be sufficient demand from the various Colonies to warrant the establishment in the Arsenal of a factory for this purpose. A clothing factory either in, or in connexion with the Arsenal and under the direction of its head might also be established.
As regards small-arm ammunition, the best arrangement would probably be that which appears at present to be more or less accepted, viz., to hold out inducements, by the promise of orders of a stated amount annually for a term of years, to local manufacturers to set up machinery for the purpose of its manufacture; and similar inducements might be held out to make worth while the local manufacture of cordite for military and naval use; at present it is believed that all powder for these purposes is imported, a condition of things which might lead to dangerous complications in time of war.
All supplies, of whatever sort, obtained locally should, before being accepted, be submitted to an examination and test by an inspector of warlike stores at the Arsenal.
Laboratories for making up cartridges and filling shell would be required and should be a part
of the Arsenal.
(ii) As regards repairs, a workshop fitted up similarly to a Class 1 Ordnance Store workshop of the Imperial Service would probably suffice to execute all repairs which do not amount to an actual re-manufacture. These shops should be under the direction of an official of corresponding qualifications to those of an Inspector of Ordnance Machinery in the Imperial Service.
(iii.) As regards storage, the Arsenal should contain stores for the reception of ordnance, small-arms, and war material generally, which are not required for actual use, and which it is thought advisable to keep in a central reserve; also for the reception of such articles sent for repair that are awaiting return to their stations, Store magazines for reserve ammunition, and ammunition awaiting issue, should be provided in, or in connexion with, the Arsenal.
3. The departments of the proposed Central Arsenal would be—
A Harness and Saddle Factory.
A Clothing Factory.
Repairing shops.
A Laboratory.
A Store Department, charged with the receipt and issue and care of all stores,
whether made in the Arsenal or obtained from outside.
Over all would be a Director and under him an inspection staff.
4. At each headquarter station of the various local defence forces (except where the Central Arsenal would be) small repairing shops, similar to those of Class III in the Imperial Service, would be required, to execute minor repairs, for which it would not be worth while to send the articles to the Central Arsenal. The efficiency of these shops could be ensured by placing them to some extent under the control of the Director of the Central Arsenal and supplying the artificers from that Arsenal.
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5. The advantages which may be expected to accrue from such a system of centralising in the Australian Colonies the supply and storage of war material would be as follows:-
(1.) Greater facility in obtaining uniformity of pattern in arms and equipment of the
different forces.
(2.) Saving of expense by economy of management, and by making many articles and executing many repairs which must now be obtained from, or executed, outside the Colonies.
(3.) War material not actually in use, or in charge of troops, would be well looked after, and kept in repair, and up to date, as regards pattern, by competent artificers, instead of, as must at present occasionally occur, deteriorating from unavoidable neglect.
(4.) The manufacturing resources of the whole of Australia in respect of ammunition
and stores could be more easily made available to meet the requirements of individual Colony.
any
(5.) Many stores now imported would be made locally, thus giving employment to local labour, and obviate the danger of failure of supply in time of war. (6.) Repairs of greater magnitude could be executed locally, than could possibly be done in such small workshops as each individual Colony would be able to maintain; and the employment of more highly skilled (and paid) artificers would be possible in the case of such an Arsenal, than would be justified in the case of small local workshops where the demand for their labour would be intermittent. (7.) Such an arsenal would form a nucleus for future expansion, so that as the population and trade and consequent need for larger defensive forces, naval and military, increase, a great manufacturing establishment would arise, which would eventually render the Colonies nearly, if not quite, independent of all sources of external supply.
(8.) The interchange of guns, &c. between different Colonies would be facilitated; for instance, if one Colony is in possession of guns which it no longer requires, they could be sent to the Arsenal, and if afterwards required by other Colonies would be issued to them.
6. The Central Arsenal would be presutnably placed under the control of the Federal Council of Defence, when established, to whom its director would be responsible, and who would determine the sums to be contributed by each of the Colonies towards its establishment.
Once established, the Arsenal should be self-supporting, that is to say, a proportion of all charges for wages, adininistration and wear and tear of machinery should be added to the actual cost of all stores issued from, or repairs executed in, the Arsenal.
Pending the establishment of such an Arsenal, it would be perhaps well to ascertain whether certain stores could not be more economically obtained from the very efficient Government factories in India than from England. And should such a factory be started, it might be advisable in the first instance to obtain a certain proportion of the staff of artificers from the same source.
A. C. HANSARD, Major, R.A., Artillery Adviser to Inspector-General of Fortifications.
THE COLONIAL DEFENCE COMMITTEE.
IN 1887 a paper was laid before the Colonial Conference, then assembled in London, recounting briefly the measures that had been taken in the preceding 10 years in relation to Colonial Defence. It described the reasons that led to the formation of the present Colonial Defence Committee in 1885, its constitution, and the work that had been carried out by it in the two years of its existence. It is thought that it would be convenient at the present time to repeat the information concerning this Committee given in the former paper,
and to complete this information by summarising its labours, and, as far as possible, their results during the 12 years that the Committee has been at work,
Formation of Committee.
2. In 1885, an incident on the Afghan frontier resulted in an alarm of war throughout the Empire, and the receipt from the Colonies of a number of communications with reference to their defence, which, requiring joint decisions of the Colonial Office, Bb 3
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