AUSTRALIA'S DEFENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 197, 24 September 1909, Page 2

AUSTRALIA'S DEFENCE.

THE COMPULSORY TRAINING PRINCIPLE. LONDON JOURNALS SING AUSTRALIA'S PRAISES. By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright London, September 21. All the newspapers display details of the Commonwealth Defence BUI. The Daily Mall heads its articles: "Every Australian a Soldier," "375,000 Men," "Thirteen Ships for the Empire."

The Standard states that the importance of the proceedings of the Imperial Defence Conference to the Empire maybe measured by the fruits of the Enipirc. The Australian Government de serves nil credit for the practical shaos it has given to the people's patriot;.' sentiments, and the reception o! the compulsory principle will he watched with lively interest. The challenge to the supremacy of the British Navy, which Ministers disclosed to the country, elicited a spontaneous outburst < i colonial zeal, and the Defence Conference has been the means of giving it i ».hapc therefrom, and emphasise the importance of a compulsory naval as well as a military service.

The Chronicle heads its leader with Mr. Joseph Cook's phrase; "Australia should he a buttress, not a burden." Continuing, it says Imperial defence hitherto has been occasional, spasmodic and unorganised, but a new era ha« been inaugurated which will make 100t> memorable in the annals, substance and permanence. The Australian scheme happily combines the principle of nationalism with Imperial co-operation. Tho Pall Mall Gazette, commenting on the Australian Defence Bill, warmly praises tho example which it aaya tl't Motherland ought to follow. Compulsion under the Bill is wisely limited at the outset to thickly populated area*.' The scheme, it says, adds two new factors to the international situation: (J) A fleet which will materiaUv affect inn balance of power in the Pacific, and 12) an army which not even the greatest military Powers can regard as a negligible quality. The Evening Standard aaya tro scheme sets a pace wliich all can follow, and expresses the opinion that there was never a better understanding, dc* tined.to render the Empire a true and a tremendous Hegemony.