CAB9-1_PT1 — Page 407

SECRET.

No. 146 R.

I.S.D.

(for page 407 of 425

Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. August 10, 1896.

ALBANY, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Report of Local Joint Naval and Military Committee, December 1895.

Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.

THE Colonial Defence Committee concur in the Report of the Local Committee with certain modifications indicated in the following para- graphs :-

2. Examination Anchorage and Regulation of Traffic.-It is considered advisable that an inner limit to the examination anchorage or an "examina- tion line" should be laid down. Every arrival from seaward must, when the Traffic Regulations are enforced, be identified by the examining vessel, who should direct the stranger to "bring to." The responsibility for the detection of an enemy rests on the examining vessel. Should the stranger, from ignorance or treachery, attempt to evade her, she would signal to the batteries, and they, irrespective of any examination line, would bring the stranger to, either by a signal in the shape of a shot across her bows, or, if this was ineffectual, by firing at her. In the event of no signal being received from the examining vessel, or, in her temporary absence, any ship proceeding at speed towards the examination line may be presumed to be hostile, and must be "brought to" by the batteries, and, as soon as she is on that line, treated as an enemy. The examination line should therefore be drawn from a battery to prevent any mistake as to the position of the approaching ship, and so that the crossing of the line may be instantly followed by the fire necessary to stop or sink her. In the case of Princess Royal Harbour, the line should run from Plantagenet Battery to Possession Point.

3. In the second paragraph of the Traffic Regulations as embodied in the Report, the word "permission" should be substituted for "a permit," which implies permission in writing.

4. With regard to bringing the Traffic Regulations into operation in time of war, a subject dealt with in paragraph 2 of the letter of the Naval Com- mander-in-chief accompanying the Report, attention is called to the following extract from Report XIX of the Joint Naval and Military Committee on Defence :--

"The time after a declaration of war or commencement of hostilities at which it would be advisable to put in force the Traffic Regulations must vary with the distance of the port from the base of the enemy, the nature of the attack to which it is liable, and other special conditions which would be known at the time at each place; but if the great importance of maintaining and protecting our trade is accepted in principle, it would indicate that though immediate mobilization is essential to an effective state of defence, the protection derived from the examination and exclusion of vessels may be considered as a second phase of the defence dependent on the enemy's vessels being in certain particular waters.

At the least, it should be understood that neither the Traffic Regulations nor the laying of submarine mines should be put in operation without competent naval approval, whenever such is available."

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