CAB9-1_PT1 — Page 170

Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. October 1893.

CONFIDENTIAL.

67-R

NEW SOUTH WALES.

25

Page 170

N. S. WALES.

936.

Report of Royal Commission of 1892.

Remarks by Colonial Defence Committee.

THE Colonial Defence Committee have carefully considered the Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the military service of New South Wales.

1. The proposals generally of the Commission as regards the military reorganization of the local forces appear exceedingly sound, and the Committee do not desire to criticize their details. They have been worked out with great care and complete local knowledge and are doubtless the best that can be devised. The Committee wish to express their appreciation of the ability shown in the preparation of the Report and of the clear and comprehensive manner in which the subject has been dealt with by the President and the members of the Commission.

2. The following points alone appear to call for remark on the part of the Colonial Defence Committee:

The Commission propose that the Colony should acquire a fast modern ship of war for strictly local use to protect traffic on the New South Wales Coast, and entering or leaving Port Jackson.

The Committee are unable to regard this proposal with approval. In their opinion it shows a tendency to hark back to the old cry of harbour- defence ships, which led to the useless expenditure of so many millions in the past. They remark that the paragraph on p. 17, commencing "In the event of hostilities," &c., shows an inadequate conception of the duties and potentiality of the now very large squadron on the Australian station. It is the particular duty of that squadron to guard the ocean communications in Australian waters, and to account for every ship of a hostile fleet that appears in them. This is the surest way of preserving the terminations of those com- munications intact. In the opinion of the Committee, the squadron on the station has a strength adequate for this purpose, and also to allow of it detaching a force to deal with any stray cruizer that at the outset of a war, and through some unforeseen combination of circumstances, might attempt to infest the neighbourhood of a port. If the Colony is inclined to question the adequacy of this naval protection, and has spare funds available for the purpose named, it would be sounder policy to devote the money to augment- ing the special squadron than to any attempt to create a Colonial sea- going navy of its own. Such a navy would be costly, and probably inefficient, and even if efficient, it would be a waste of power to tie vessels of the class proposed down to any mere local defence.

It may further be observed that the estimate for the maintenance of this ship is wholly inadequate, and that a vessel to be handed over to the Colony, and maintained and manned by it, could not possibly be brought under the terms of the Agreement of 1887.

3. The proposals for the reduction of the Permanent Artillery to the extent named, and for disbanding the Naval Artillery Volunteers as such, and reforming them as partially paid garrison artillery, appear to be amply

[728]

Page 170

Page 170