EMPIRE DEFENCE?

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1920, Page 5

EMPIRE DEFENCE?

PROBLEM OF THE PACIFIC. AUSTRALIA'S VULNERABLE COAST. By TeleErajA,—Press Assn.—Copyright, Received Sept. 12, 5.5 p.m. London, fcsept. 11. The Daily Chronicle says the recent speech by Mr. W. M. Hughes (Premier of Australia) on Imperial defence is an indication of the seriousness with which the Commonwealth is addressing itself to the problem of defence. . The paper says that though in case of Imperial complications Australia would help Britain as she did in the world, war, this was not the real Australian defence problem, which is how to protect the coasts of her vast territory 'against a threat of attack. Australia, like Britain, is an island, but with an infinitely longer and more vulnerable coastline. Near her small white population are the densely packed populations of As' , who have caught the restless spirit of the modern world. This is the meaning of the very modest scheme which Mr. Hughes outlined.—Aus.-N.Z, Cable Assn. [ln the House of Representatives, Mr. Hughes stated that a scheme of Imperial defence was being formulated as a result of deliberations between representatives of Britain and the Overseas Dominions, and until agreement was reached the proposals of the Ministry must be regarded as tentative. He hoped that at the coming Imperial conference on defence the scheme would be completed for co-operation among all the Dominions and a real Imperial defence policy formulated for the first time. The centre of gravity had now shifted to the Pacific, the islands of which had been distributed among the Powers. Considerations of safety required Australia to take cognisance of her geographical, position under these new conditions.]