COLONIAL DEFENCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5249, 19 January 1878, Page 3

COLONIAL DEFENCES.

(From the Volunteer Service Gazette,) Since it has been made clear that the policy, be it right or wrong, of the Imperial Government is definitely to leave the colonies to provide what we may call their own garrisons, the question of how the obviously needful force should be organised has received considerable attention. The Dominion, indeed, long had a large body of Volunteer militia, which, although it may be open to some improvement, is undoubtedly far ahead of any other colonial force. Tim Australian colonies,. on the! other hand, have hitherto contented themselves with very small numbers,of regular”,soldiers, so small and unexpansiye, indeed, as to .be of.. but little, importance, and considerable bodies b! Yob l ?', te’ers enrolled .and, .trained very much on the Homo system. . These .colonies,, have recently .become sonjiewhat alarmed at, tlio .condition. -of ; their defences,‘find Sir William-Jbrvois, .the, Governor of South. Australia,, fin officer of liigli, rank ; and [grqatj experience belonging to the 'Royal Engineers,;bqs ibeon(Pfiked'|tOigive: his opinion as to what is. needful r ini order that Sydney . Harbor, and Port, PliiUlp,... at : least f may.be,. made.,safe againstqa, -coup tdejmain.. Readers.pf ,Thc : Tivics. ..will. jiayp ;soen that, po, far as New South Wales is concerned, Sir William Jervois recommends that an ironclad should bo provided and kept in common by

the' colony. Tin’s proposal has net, apparently, been received with much, favor, and, has been met by an amendment that the ship'should he borrowed from England, and should, hi-fact, be managed by the Imperial Government, .though at"the cost of the colony.. It would, seem, however, that the whole question is shelved for the present. As to Victoria, Sir William advises that , certain fortifications should be constructed,>aud thinks that, with some few enlisted troops, and a, re-formed Volunteer force, besides a turret ship, the Cerberus, which the colony possesses, Fort Phillip has no cause to fear. _ We have not yet learned what are the details of the reforms which are proposed for the Volunteers, of Victoria, except that periods of continuous drills are to be exacted from the Artillery, but we may guess that they will take the usual form of asking for more attendance than is given at, present. Probably, in return, more advantages may be given by the Colonial Government than we are accustomed to on this side of the world.

There can be no doubt that the position of the Australian colonies with regard to defence is a very embarrassing one. No one can say that in the event of a great war some European power might not have, at least, such a temporary local supremacy at sea wliich would enable her to swoop down upon and hold to ransom one of our great distant dependencies ; and it is equally clear that the presence of a battalion or two of Imperial troops would not help matters to any appreciable extent. It may or may hot be necessary to maintain ironclads, and it may certainly be possible that such vessels should remain directly under the control of Whitehall, though we agree with The Times in thinking that such a plan is full of difficulties. But whatever may be the solution of the naval question, it seems to us quite clear that every colony, for the sake of its own immediate and dearest interests, to say nothing of those of the Empire, ought to have such organised land.forces as would enable it to resist any raid likely to be made upon its shores. It should iu fact keep up a purely defensive force,, as perfect iu its kind as it can be made. How this force is to be organised, has ■,next to be considered ; but admitting the necessity of its existence at all, it-seems to us that there ought to.be no question upon the .second point. Strange to say, however, this second point is just that which nooiieseems’willingtdface. We should say that Very few people venture to propose the establishment of any large forces of “regular” or enlisted troops. Small bodies, available in .cases of .civ 1 tumult and useful as models, may'be' and are already organised ; but from all that we hear, it is not easy to keep them up. For the, bulk of the army of defence all stem agreed to fall back ripon the Volunteers, laud only complain that the Volunteers are not all that can be .desired.. Now, .what-. ever excuse we may have in England;—where we are from circumstances obliged to' keep up-, a large enlisting army'at a! vast cost—-for not. praotically acknowledging the duty, of; universal personal service for defensive purposes, cannot, we .submit, apply to the cojouies. The men of Melbourne aud Sydney are as much morally bound to prepare themselves, for the defence of their own shores in an emergency . as ;they are to bar and bolt their, own trout doots. Th’oy will not, and in fact ; cannot, pay professional' soldiers to defend them, and they- have no 'right to depend upon the gratuitdus services of Volunteers. .;, ■ ,' Even if there were no objections to their leaving their colonial home defence to a.purely, .voluntary and unpaid force, the practicaldiffi-' culties are immense. Owing to the great; ex. ertions of Colonel Anderson, and some of his staff, the Volunteer regiments in.Viptoria are, we believe,' in a ‘tolerably healthy, condition. But in a country like. Australia, it is, we have understood, almost impossible ;to find men with leisure enough to undertake the; duties of officers, 1 and out of the great centres of population '-not.even men 1 can be fonnd willing.to serve in; the ranks. Under these circumstances, , it. seems to ;us quite clear that if the community recognise the need of any kind, of -defensive organisation, it ought also to recoguise the need of compulsory training for that purpose. A ,peal “localisation” scheme would not, it seems to us, .be very difficult to frame for a colony if once the principlqof universal liability to ser-, vice was conceded. But until it is conceded, we fear that the efforts;o£ Sir .William Jervois to make the Australian colonies safe by means of ironclads and fortifications will not be found to be of any great use.