FEDERAL POLITICS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3152, 1 April 1909, Page 5

FEDERAL POLITICS.

CABLE NEWS.

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph Copyright.

MR FISHER'S POLICY SPEECH. COMPULSORY TRAINING SCHEME. ' NAVAL CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE. Received March 31, 10 a.m. BRISBANE, March 31. his speech at Gympie, and referring to defence matters, Mr Fisher said the compulsory training scheme proposes that the cadets shall commence at ten years of age and yo , on till tlvn- k-o '„-,-, ; ,...^ e> Th.; scheme wiiientuii an initial outla} of £580.000. The eest for the first ,eai j .vjl; b~ £1,200,000, a»d it will reach ! !a maximum'of £1,407,000 in the j sixth year. The naval scheme proposes, in ad-, dition to the three destroyers already ordered, four ocean-going destroyers and sixteen river class destroyers. I Mr Fisher foreshadowed a Com- ; monwealth note issue, and the minti ing of silver coinage, which together would produce a revenue amounting to £190,000; also an amendment of I the constitution with regard to the new protection. The Federal Government, he said, would not go on the money market on any condition whatever until a settlement had been reached over the State debts question. He considered the appointment of a High Commissioner a necessity. Mr Fisher said he estimated that naval construction would cost £650,000 in the first year, £BBO,OOO in the second, and £734,U00 in the third. The costjof maintenance would be £168,000 for the first year, and £236,000 for the next. PRESS CRITICISM. "A FRAUDULENT DELUSION." Received March 31, 11 a.m. SYDNEY, March 31. The "Morning Herald" declares Mr Fisher is entirely astray regarding the naval defence question. His scheme merely commits Australia to an enormous expense for construction and maintenance without even gaining local immunity, at the same time as it fails most shamefully to play the part in Empire defence that events so loudly call us to undertake. He has strangely misread the signs of the times if he thinks now is the appropriate time to appeal to purely local patriotism. His plain duty was to stand by the Empire, -and he must be left under no illusion that he is helping the Empire with a destroyer fleet. The "Daily Telegraph" points out that the destroyers will be useless | unless they are attached to a deep j sea squadron. "Our clear interest j and manifest duty is to strengthen , the fleet which, while it holds the seas, makes invasion impossible. Any defence scheme ignoring that is a fraudulent delusion, and just there is where the incurably weak points of Mr Fisher's policy protrude."