The Admiralty answer to Mr. Deakin's proposal to estab- lish
a local Australian Navy has been published in Australia. It states, according to a Reuter summary, that the Admiralty have had some difficulty in understanding Mr. Deakin's scheme, but they believe the following to be its chief principles :—The Commonwealth Government undertakes the responsibility for local naval defence, and will provide six torpedo-boat destroyers, nine submarines, and two depot-ships at a cost of £1,277,500. It will also meet the expenses of pay and maintenance for seventy-nine officers and eleven hundred and twenty-five men provided by the Imperial Government, as many of them as possible being Australians. The administrative control of the flotilla will rest with the Commonwealth Government, but the officers and men will form part of the Imperial Navy, and will be subject to the King's Regulations. While in Australian waters they will be under the control of the Ccmmonwealth Government, but if they go to other places they will be under the control of the senior Imperial naval officer. Mr. Deakin assumes that in time of war the Commonwealth Government would place the flotilla under the orders of the naval Commander-in-Chief, but that the vessels would not be moved from Australian waters without the consent of the Commonwealth Government. The annual expenses of maintenance will amount to L186,000. We are glad that the Admiralty, who have expressed a general approval of the scheme, have taken the only reasonable course.
Previous page
