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Hokitika Guardian, 9 November 1932, Page 4

Thekjo has been considerable comment of late in connection with the attitude taken hy the Australian' authorities in connection with the’upkeep of the Navy in Australian waters, and with New Zeeland so interested in the question to a very vital 1 extent it is interesting to quote ome of these cxprcwiionis of opinions. In the course of a recent speech at Canberra, Colonel Harrison, formerly Commandant of the Royal Military College, said that Australia had undertaken responsibility for her own local defe’ee, hut in that resncct she was letting the Empire down. She was the weakest link of the Empire chain, and was not doing her duty either by herself or the Empire. lA'iriralia had m nir force consisting mostly of buildings.

It had not the financial assistance nuce-sary to carry oni proper hying training. The railway system was an absolute deterrent, to eiricient mobflisation. They talked aoout strategic railways, and the norch coast line was .said to be one of them. In defence it was absolutely useless, because it was nothing moiVi than a target for attacking ships. They took comfort from the Singapore base, but it was not completed, and iat present was merely a bait to draw tbe enemy. It was not in a fit condition to receive the British navy, even if the na.vy could go there. An enemy would seize that firs*, and the navy would have no base east cf Suez. It was an attraction for an , e nemy pishing to operate against Australia../ From there West Australia would,,be. the first stage towards the of the country. What provision had they there to meet an attack? There were a few short-range guns at Fremantle and some obsolete guns at Albany, and' they had on paper a striking force of ICO9 to 1200 men obsoletely equipped and inadequately brained. An attack could not be resisted from the eiast of Australia. The capture of King George’s Sound was a matter of convenience for any enemy —they could not stop it. The navy had been sunk, and Australia was left entirely unprotected from the sea. With am enemy at King George’s Sound, they could not send a single cargo through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope. It was obvious that, once West Australia had fallen, the capture of the eastern States was a matter for the enemy to effect at its leisure-. We p.re left in this outpost of the Empire defenceless among other nations,” he concluded, “and fit only to how our herds in shame because of the way we are reiving on their goodwill and on the British Empire.