105

A.—s

that many of our commanders, men of experience, tell us that they find with our men a rapidity of progress, a readiness to submit to discipline and a promptness in acquiring technical knowledge which they are not accustomed to find elsewhere. That is because every man takes a pride in his task and throws himself into it because it is his chosen pursuit in addition to his ordinary labours. But while we feel hopeful about our men, we see that our weakness lies in the officering of such men. We recognise that you have wisely said that the most essential need of the Army now-a-days is of the up-to-date, intelligent, self-dependent military officer with a capable knowledge of his business and yet not a slave to the rules and theories of the study. Any advice upon that head we shall be most willing and ready to hear, because we recognise that this is in the direction in which we most need to improve. The other point upon which Sir Frederick Borden with whom we quite sympathize dwelt, is the wisdom of. our making provision to supply our own needs in times of emergency. I am happy to find, from my hurried glance, that the paper headed " Patterns and Provision of Equipment and Stores for Colonial Forces," states in paragraph 6 that the QuartermasterGeneral and the Master General of the Ordnance recommend that: "It is " most desirable that the area of supply of the warlike stores under refer- " ence should be as wide as possible, and, therefore, the Colonial Govern- " ments should be urged to arrange for local manufacture and provision " rather than to rely on the resources of the United Kingdom." Sir FREDERICK BORDEN : I had overlooked that, sir. Mr. DEAKIN: That recommendation exactly supplies what Sir Frederick Borden was desirous of securing, and also supplies what we feel in our remote position to be still more urgent. Our friends, Sir Wilfrid and Sir Frederick, in contrast with us, reside in the centre of modern civilisation with highly equipped nations all round them; by rapid communication they are kept in a few days in touch with all. Our position at the other side of the globe, surrounded by alien races to whom we cannot look for aid or assistance in this matter, or indeed in any other, and far from any sources of supply of arms and material of war is very different, and we feel its urgency. We have an ammunition factory already in Melbourne, but although that meets our demand for small arms ammunition, we do not obtain a satisfactory cordite supply. We have now under review, and intend to propose to our Parliament, such an extension of our local production as shall enable us to cope with future demands some years ahead. We have an ammunition reserve, of course, but in addition propose to cope with our demand by factories of our own. I propose at an early date to ask your colleague, the First Lord of the Admiralty, whether it will not be possible for us, with advantage to the Admiralty, and with advantage to ourselves, to enlarge any ammunition factories which we may be able to establish so as to afford the Admiralty some of the munitions it will need in time of war. Needless to say, if we are cut off from sources of supply the ships of the squadron in those seas are cut off also. If they are employing their ammunition, as it is to be hoped they would be most effectively on nnv hostile ships with which they have to deal, the question of re-supplying their stores, without a visit to a very remote base, would of course be a very considerable matter for them. It would be an important matter for us if we can lease or establish a factory on such a scale that its output in any given year may be sufficiently large to make us independent of any of the reasonable requirements of war. That is to say, our factories to be reliable

15—A 5.

Fourth Day, 20 April 1907.

Military Defence. (Mr. Deakin.)