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APPENDIX.

Sir,

Governor-General to Secretary of State.

Melbourne, August 14, 1912. REFERRING to your secret despatch dated the 13th October, 1911, covering copies of Memoranda Nos. 429 M and 442 M (prepared by the Oversea Defence Committee) dealing with the scale of attack on Australia under existing conditions and with the strategic position of Australia and New Zealand in certain eventualities, I have the honour to inform you that I am advised by my Prime Minister that the principles laid down in these Memoranda have been generally concurred in by the Commonwealth Council of Defence.

2. I should be glad if the Army Council can be informed that steps are being taken by this Government in connection with the preparation of Defence Schemes :-

(i.) Schemes dealing with the duties of the headquarters' staff in districts in connection with the mobilization and concentration of troops allotted to the field army and defended ports are are being compiled, and will be designated "Part I, District Headquarters Defence Schemes." (ii.) Schemes are being prepared for the several defended ports in districts which will be known

as "Part II, and, where necessary, Part III, of the District Defence Schemes."

(iii) A Commonwealth Defence Scheme is being compiled to provide :—

(a.) For the allotment of troops for the protection of the coast defences and harbours in

the Commonwealth in accordance with the detail contained in (ii) above.

(b.) For the concentration of a mobile expeditionary force.

(c) For the concentration at war stations in districts of the field army troops not allotted

to the expeditionary force.

A draft of the proposed strategical considerations upon which this scheme is based is enclosed berewith for approval.

This scheme, so far as (b) and (c) above are concerned, will not go further at present than to provide for the initial concentration of the forces concerned; separate plans of operations will he prepared to meet the several probable contingencies in which the mobile expeditionary force may be employed.

3. As regards the scale of probable attack by warships on Australian ports, I shall be glad if the Army Council can be informed that the advice tendered by the Oversea Defence Committee in Memorandum No. 438 M, dated the 26th May, 1911, has been accepted, and that the selection of the sites for 9.2-inch guns at Sydney is now under consideration.

I have, &c.

(Signed)

DENMAN, Governor-General.

Enclosure.

Scheme of Defence.-Mobile Forces of Australia.

Strategical Considerations.

References: Lord Kitcheners Memorandum on Defence of Australia, February 1910.

O.D.C. Memorandum 417 M of 7th July, 1910.

O.D.C. Memorandum 429 M of 24th February, 1911.

O.D.C. Memorandum 442 M of 3rd May, 1911.

IT is laid down as an axiom by the British Government that the Einpire's existence depends primarily on the maintenance of adequate and efficient naval forces. As long as this condition is fulfilled, and as long as British superiority at sea is assured, then it is an accepted principle that no British dominion can be successfully and permanently conquered by an organized invasion from

overses.

2. But in applying this principle to Australia, considerations of time and space cannot be disregarded. The conduct of a great war depends upon the calculated and proper combination of naval, military, and diplomatic forces; and it is quite conceivable that in the future, as in the past, national considerations may require the concentration of British naval forces in one or other theatre of operations. It follows that, in seas remote from such a concentration, the British naval forces may find themselves for a moment inferior in force to an actual and potential enemy. In such a situation, although the Empire's ultimate superiority at sea might not be a matter of doubt, some time might elapse before such command of the sea was definitely assured in Australian waters.

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