A.—s

112

of the various Parliaments —whereby certain of our forces would be interchangeable in the event of any local emergency; and the principle was also recognised, and will naturally have to be accepted, or otherwise, by the various South African Governments. A point upon which lam extremely anxious to hear the opinion of my friend General Botha, is as to whether we should not disband and re-enrol our permanent forces on the understanding that they would be under obligations not alone to serve anywhere in South Africa, but, in an emergency—and with the consent of the Governments concerned—anywhere the Empire might require. I believe the feeling of the people of Cape Colony, and I hope the feeling of the general population in South Africa, will be favourable to such a proposition; and I think if that principle were accepted by the other Colonies, it would be the first nucleus of a real Imperial Army. So far as our permanent forces are concerned (I speak more of the Cape Police and the C.M.R.) I am perfectly certain that practically all of them would be prepared to be re-enrolled upon that basis, that is to say that they would be liable to be called upon for service in any part of the world where they might be required. So far as our Naval defences are concerned, we have been only too anxious to see if we could do anything to improve those defences, and I trust that the result of the consultation we will have the opportunity of having with the Admiralty before we return to the Cape will be that, on behalf of South Africa, and certainly on behalf of the two maritime Colonies of South Africa, some arrangement will be come to with the Admiralty whereby we will, on the same basis as I have suggested with regard to the Military forces, enrol, under an Act of Parliament, a force of Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves who will bind themselves in time of war not only to serve within territorial waters, but to serve in any part of the world in which the British Admiralty may require their services; because I feel strongly that it is not the contributions which we give to the Imperial Government) which, after all, are only a drop in the ocean) that are important, but that the great contribution we should give is personnel trained as efficiently as possible in order to make up the waste of war should any great difficulty arise. It is hardly necessary for me to say any more, because I think this Resolution will be accepted by the Conference. I only wish the Resolution was worded a little more strongly, and—perhaps the Secretary of State for War may think it over —that it contained an expression of the opinion of this Conference that a certain portion of the forces of all the Colonies or Dominions beyond the Seas should be enrolled upon the basis that, with the consent of their Governments, their services would be available wherever required. I may also, perhaps, Lord Elgin, as it is of such great importance, accentuate what has been so ably said by Mr. Deakin and by Sir Joseph Ward, that I do not think there is anything in the statement of the Secretary of State for War which should necessarily be withheld from publication. So far as the Empire is concerned, I am sure it will do a great deal of good; and I do not think, so far as foreign nations are concerned, that anybody can take exception to it. If they did take any exception to it, it would only be to assure them that, so far as the British Empire is concerned, it is determined to maintain and uphold its own interests in every part of the world, and that is not a position which any foreign nation could possibly take exception to. I therefore trust that the Secretary of State for War will consent to make public this most valuable statement which he has been good enough to lay before the Conference.

Fourth Day. 20 April 1907

Military Defence. (Dr. Smartt.)