CAB38-17 — Page 153

Page 153

Page 153

Page 153

3

embodying the views of that Conference has been transmitted to the Canadian and Australian Governments, and it is hoped that a satisfactory arrangement on the lines suggested by the Interdepartmental Conference will be arrived at at the approaching Imperial Conference.

11. As regards the arrangements for the co-operation of the British and Dominion Navies in war, the Committee were informed that the broad principles that the Admiralty are seeking to establish (see Memorandum printed as Appendix III to this Report) are :-

(a.) That the decision whether their naval forces shall or shall not join in hostilities in any particular war should rest with the Government of each Dominion.

(b.) That the British, Canadian, and Australian fleets should he sister members of the King's Navy, hoisting the white ensign at the stern, and a distinctive flag of each fleet on the jack staff,

(c.) That each fleet should be administered by its separate Admiralty.

(d.) That a common system of naval discipline and training should be established,

and

(e.) That officers and men should be interchangeable between the three fleets. (ƒ) That while each Dominion fleet should confine its operations primarily within the area of its own station, arrangements would be made between the Admiralty concerned and the British Admiralty when the particular service on which a Dominion fleet is engaged takes it outside its own (9.) That in the event of war the whole of the King's Navy taking part in

warlike operations should be under the control of the British Admiralty. (h.) That if a Dominion Government decides upon taking common action with the British fleet in a war, it should not be at liberty to withdraw its fleet from the partnership so long as the war continues.

area.

12. The Sub-Committee were also informed that the Admiralty were negotiating with the Governments of Australia and Canada individually as regards the details of the administrative and other arrangements connected with the establishment of the local navies.

13. A Memorandum setting forth the arrangements that have provisionally been made with the High Commissioner of Australia as the result of these negotiations is printed as Appendix IV to this Report.

The Admiralty propose to lay before the Committee of Imperial Defence, prior to the assembly of the Imperial Conference, a summary of the results of the negotiations with Canada.

14. The Sub-Committee recommend that the general principles laid down by the Admiralty for the co-operation of the naval forces of the United Kingdom and of the Dominions and the arrangements made with the Australian Government should be approved by the Committee of Imperial Defence.

IV. CO-OPERATION OF MILITARY FORCES.

15. The proposals put forward by the Army Council at the Imperial Conference on Defence, 1909, for so organising the military forces of the Empire as to insure their effective co-operation in war, have been accepted in principle by the Governments of the Dominions, and substantial progress has been made towards giving effect to them.

16. In accordance with the resolution of the Imperial Conference 1907, affirming the need of developing for the service of the Empire à General Staff selected from the forces of the Empire as a whole, local sections of the Imperial General Staff have been created in Canada and Australia, and it is hoped that at the approaching Conference arrangements will be made which will result in the establishment of similar local sections in the other Dominions. Arrangements will also, if possible, be made for the Dominions to be represented on the Central section of the Imperial General Staff at the War Office by officers of their local military forces.

Page 153

Page 153