།།།།
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
8
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO.
201
3. Lieutenant-Colonel Altham's paper, written from the point of view of the Department of the Headquarter Staff, which has recently been charged, under the control of the Commander-in-Chief, with the preparation and maintenance of detailed plans for the military defence of the Empire, lays special stress on these two essential points, and makes definite suggestions in regard to the organization of contingents for Imperial service from the self-governing Colonies.
•
The Colonial Defence Committee are in entire accord with the principles laid down in this paper, and are of opinion that the detailed proposals in regard to organization are based on a correct appreciation of the military resources and requirements of the yarious Colonies, and deserve the most favourable consideration of the Governments of Austalia, New Zealand, and Canada.
t. It is fully realized that arrangements for ensuring the combined military action of all parts of the Empire in times of great emergency must be dependent on the voluntary co-operation of the self-governing Colonies. In such a contingency it will be essential to success that the military forces of the Empire should be employed against the common foc in conformity with one general plán, and that the supreme military control of those forces should be vested in one central authority. The disadvantage of divided military counsels and disconnected enterprises in war is apparent from the study of all military history.
The general plans for the defence of a great nation against the most serious dangers which it may be required to face must be drawn up in peace time, as on them should be based the organization of the national forces and their preparation and training for war. But it is necessary for the preparation of such general plans and for the due elaboration of subsidiary schemes of offence and defence that the central authority which is responsible for the defence of the Empire as a whole should know in peace what forces are likely to be at its disposal in time of war.
For these reasons the Colonial Defence Committee earnestly hope that the great self-governing Colonics may be able to give some assurance as to the strength of the contingents which they would be able to place at the disposal of His Majesty's Government for extra-Colonial service in a war with a European Power. 'On the other hand, the Committee suggest that it would be of advantage if the Imperial authorities could confidentially communicate to the Colonial authorities the general nature of the duties which it is proposed to assign to their contingents in such a war.
5. The two points embodied in the second and third sentences of the Notice of Motion are dealt with on lines differing somewhat from the provisions of the New Zealand Act already referred to.
In the Act it was proposed to fix the limits within which the Imperial Reserve Force might be employed on Imperial service by subsequent Act or by Resolution-of both Houses of the Colonial Legislature. It is now proposed that these limits should be defined by the Imperial and Colonial Governments at the time such reserve is formed, and should be in accordance with any law in force for the time being respect- ing the same.
It is no doubt necessary that the individual enrolling in the Imperial Reserve should be aware before enrolment of the extent of his liabilities; but a geographicat definition, of the limits of service in a public Act will be attended with difficulty, and possibly open to objection. It would be preferable that enrolment in the Imperial Reserve should simply be for general service in the event of war with one or more European Powers. These conditions appear to be sufficiently definite for the individual, while they leave the mode of employment of the force to be settled, as already explained, between the Imperial and Colonial Governments.
J
6. The concluding sentence of the Notice of Motion lays down that the cost of maintaining and equipping the Imperial Reserve Force is to be defrayed in such proportion and manner as may be agreed upon between the Imperial and Colonial Governments.
The New Zealand Act of 1900 was silent on this point, but it was implied that no expenditure from the British Exchequer in time of peace was involved-a course which certainly avoided questions of divided responsibility and some other difficulties. Although the cost of the present scheme is very small compared with that already borne by the taxpayer of the United Kingdom-for the defence of the Empire, the principle of Imperial, subsidies for the maintenance in peace of Colonial troops is a
205
207 now on, and the matter is que that cannot be dealt with apart from the general question of the incidence of the cost of Imperial defence, whichi, the Colonial Defence Committee understand, is to be discussed in its most important aspect---viz., that of uaval expenditure, at the Conference of Colonial Premiers. The Committee therefore contine themselves to expressing the hope that the present scheme, of which the initiative is due to the Government of one of the self-governing Colonies, will not be allowed by those Colonies to fall through on financial grounds. The cost involved is small in proportion to the direct advantage to the Colonies themselves of having at hand troops organized and available at short notice for expeditionary service, while the possession of such forces, which it would be impossible to supply by means of extemporised efforts, would enable them to take an active share in protecting and securing their own interests which are inseparable from the general interests of the Empire.
J. E. CLAUSON, Secretary,
Colonial Defence Committee..
June 13, 1902.
(Signed)
2.
Dd 2
1
206