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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON.

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But while thus calling attention to the progress that has already been made by Canada in her militia organization, the Ministers are far from If defects exist, there is every claiming that perfection has been attained.

desire on the part of the Canadian Government to remove them, and for this purpose the advice and assistance of experienced Imperial officers will be welcomed and all reasonable efforts made to secure an efficient system.

At present Canadian expenditures for defence services are confined to the military side. The Canadian Government are prepared to consider the naval side of defence as well. On the sea-coasts of Canada there is a large number of men admirably qualified to form a Naval Reserve, and it is hoped that at an early day a system may be devised which will lead to the training of these men and to the making of their services available for defence in time of need.

In conclusion, the Ministers repeat that, while the Canadian Government are obliged to dissent from the measures proposed, they fully appreciate the obligation of the Dominion to make expenditures for the purposes of defence in proportion to the increasing population and wealth of the country. They are willing that these expenditures shall be so directed as to relieve the tax- payer of the mother country from some of the burdens which he now bears; and they have the strongest desire to carry out their defence schemes in co- operation with, the Imperial authorities, and under the advice of experienced Imperial officers, so far as this is consistent with the principle of local self- government, which has proved so great a factor in the promotion of Imperial unity.

London, 11th August 1902.

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APPENDIX VIII.

Memorandum by the First Lord of the Admiralty.

Accompanied by the Senior Naval Lord and the Financial Secretary, my colleagues of the Board of Admiralty, and assisted by the Director of Naval Intelligence, I have now had interviews with the Premiers of His Majesty's Government in Cape Colony, Natal, Newfoundland, and New Zealand, and with the Premiers and Ministers of Defence of His Majesty's Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of Canada; and, as the result, the Board of Admiralty have received the following offers of assistance towards the Naval Expenses of the Empire :-

*Cape Colony :

50,000l. per annum to the general maintenance of the Navy. No conditions. *Commonwealth of Australia:

200,000 per annum to an improved Australasian Squadron, and the establishment

of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve.

*Natal:

35,000l. per annum to the general maintenance of the Navy. No conditions. *Newfoundland:

3,000l. per annum (and 1,8001. as a special contribution to the fitting and preparation of a drill ship) towards the maintenance of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve of not less than 600 men.

*New Zealand:

40,000l. per annum to an improved Australasian Squadron, and the establishment

of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve.

I wish to tender to the Colonial Ministers the hearty acknowledgment of the Board of Admiralty for the manner in which they have assisted them to arrive at the satisfactory result given above. As might be supposed, we have not always been able to see eye to eye on the questions discussed; but the interchange of views has been mutually frank, and governed on all sides by a desire to treat the defence of the Empire on a business footing, and to abandon the discussion of theories for the attainment of results immediately practicable. It is true that the Board of Admiralty have not in these conferences achieved all the results for which they might previously have hoped; but, on the other hand, it has been a great pleasure to them to hear from the Prime Ministers of all the self-governing Colonies a generous appreciation of the work of the Navy.

If the Parliaments of the above-named self-governing Colonies accept and endorse these arrangements, a real step in advance will have been made in the organisation of the Naval Forces of the Empire.

In the first place, an increase in the number of modern men-of-war maintained in commission will have been promoted by the aid of British subjects in the dominions beyond the seRS.

In the second place, the conditions attached to the varioue agreements will show how keen is becoming the appreciation throughout the Empire of the peculiar characteristics of Naval warfare, and of the fact that those local considerations which find their natural place in military organisations are inapplicable to Naval organisation. I would draw special attention to the improved composition and organisation of the Australasian Squadron when the new agreement will have come into force, and to the fact that Cape Colony and Natal have made their offer unfettered by any conditions, a mark of confidence and of appreciation of the Naval problem of which the Board of Admiralty are deeply sensible.

Thirdly, I hail with much satisfaction the establishment of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve in the Colonies. The circumstances of the population of Newfoundland are peculiar, and nowhere else probably within the Empire can so large a proportion of fishermen be found. 'A branch of the Royal Naval Reserve has already been founded there, and I look forward confidently to its steady growth. In Australia and New Zealand, although Naval Brigades have for some time been in existence there, and did excellent service in the recent China War, the formation of a branch of the Royal Naval Reserve is a new departure. The formation of a branch of the Royal

• See Appendix.

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