AUSTRALIAN NAVY

Hokitika Guardian, 2 July 1930, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN NAVY

GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

SYDNEY, June 19,

There’ are times when Australians imagine that they are very proud of their own Navy. They certainly are .so when they recall the exploits of the Sydney when it sank the German raider Emden. But such glories are few and far between, and for most of tUe time the Navy ,is anchored in Sydney harbour, or tied up to the wharves at the Naval Depot. Except for the two battle cruisers, the Canberra and the Australia, and the two modern submarines, all the fleet has been paid ofF and it can scarcely be said that the Navy is a real credit to the Commonwealth, even though it may be big eiitnigiit for these times of peace.

It is when n suggestion is made to transfer the control 1 of the Australian Navy to the Imperial authorities that something like a general outburst i« heard, though there are many who believe that this would be the best thing that could happen when economy is so essential. Few Australians, however, are prepared to advocate openly such a drastic change in the naval policy. They fear public opinion. And i*f the public could be consulted they probably would not be able to advance any good reason why the Australian Navy should be controlled by an expensive Naval Board, with its First, Second, and Third members, its secretary, and all the, officials that go with it. It has just been revealed that a proposal that the • chief units should be brought directly under the control of the British Admiralty was made to Commonwealth Government by a high Australian naval officer during the recent. discussions on economy. But the Minister for Defence (Air Gireen), being a politician, and, as such, fearing public opinion, said “No.” Instead, he adopted the Naval Board’s alternatve plan to amalgamate the Duntroon Naval College and the Flinders Naval Base at Melbourne, to place some more ships temporarily out of commission, and to reduce the personnel k establishment by 700 officer, petty officers, and men. .Mr Green said that the Commonwealth Government would not be a party to any proposal for making) Australia merely a Dominion station for the Royal Navy. Knowing that neither Cabinet nor the' Labour Party would consider for a minute any surrender of the principle of naval independence of Australia, and feeling cortain that the people of Australia would not tolerate it, he had taken the responsibility of rejecting the poposal without even consulting the other members of the Cabinet. Some confusion may have arisen over a suggestion that was made that the submarines Oxlev and Otway, and the mother ship Platypus, should operate in conjunction with British submarines in adjoining waters, with headquarters at Singapore, but it was rot proposed to place .the submarines in sea-going commission for the present. In accordance with the naval economy plan they have been placed in reserve and operated with one crew for both —a saving of £30,000.