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entail the departure of the boys from home at such an early age.

It will not be possible to transfer any of the ships we propose to maintain on the station to the administration of the New Zealand Government, if that is what I rightly understand you to suggest in your letter. New Zealand has at present no organisation or naval personnel for manning and maintaining such a squadron, and the vessels in addition discharge important general Imperial services quite outside those which are strictly concerned with New Zealand interests. It is clear that the essential step before any such change would be practicable would be the pro- vision of the New Zealand Naval Reserve Force, to which reference has been already made. So far as co-operation with the Australian Fleet Unit is concerned, this object would appear to be suffi- ciently served by the fact that the New Zealand ships would in the ordinary course of events come under the orders of the Senior Navul Officer in the Pacific.

You also speak of the need that " some organi- sation should be created to advise Australia and New Zealand before any further ships are acquired." We do not see how any such organisa- tion could possess greater knowledge of this subject than the Admiralty, and the whole of our services are and will always be at the disposal of New Zealand or Australia, and any responsible repre- sentatives or Ministers from those Dominions. We shall always be very glad to place the best expert knowledge which we have at your disposal, and we do, in fact, continually discuss naval questions with the various Dominions, either directly on matters of routine or, in more im- portant cases, through the Colonial Office. Any question connected with the Committee of Im- perial Defence must, of course, be addressed to the Prime Minister, who controls entirely the procedure of that body; but I must frankly say that I feel very doubtful that a permanent sub- committee of the Committee of Imperial Defence would be a useful way of dealing with the subject. The simple and obvious course would seem to be direct consultation between the Admiralty and the Colonial Office on the one hand, and the responsible Ministers of the various Dominions concerned on the other. Nothing can supersede that consultation either in effectiveness or authority.

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