Eecicu- of liccicus, :/U/l3. 



THE DEFENCE ACT. 



the proposed land forces would cost, 

 when in full working order, in 1920, 

 less than iJ"2,ooo,coo Actually, if the 

 Kitchener recommendations are carried 

 out on the present lines, we will be 

 spending i^S, 000,000 in 1920 on that 

 branch of defence alone ! 



That is to say, the people of Australia 

 have been deceived, unintentionally, of 

 course, but deceived, nevertheless, into an 

 expenditure (part already incurred and 

 part estimated for the future) of 

 ;^ 1 7,000,000 more in ten )'ears on the 

 land forces than they were told the 

 scheme would cost when their represen- 

 tatives agreed upon its introduction ! 



fjO COST i^5, 000,000, NOT i^ 1, 884,000. 



As stated above. Lord Kitchener cal- 

 :ulated that the military budget would 

 >e /"i, 884,000 per ani.um when the whole 

 scheme was in working order, and 

 So,ooo men between 18 and 26 were being 

 trained. Before that happens there are 

 seven more quotas to come in, and as 

 each new batch of junior cadets joins the 

 seniors, and the seniors join the citizen 

 forces, an additional iJ^200,000 will be 

 added to the cost vearlv. Sir John For- 

 rest points out in his Budget speech that 

 the drafting of 22,500 junior cadets 

 into the senior cadets, and 17,500 senior 

 cadets into the citizen forces, and the 

 increased amount of ammunition re- 

 quired absorbs this sum in the following 

 ratio : — Instructional staff, ^^23,000 ; 

 clothing and equipment, £"97,000 ; am- 

 munition, i^8o,ooo. The ordinary mili- 

 tary expenditure, apart from new works, 

 interest on transferred properties etc., is 

 to be ;zf 1,914,262 this year, £^28 1,797 more 

 than last. It would be quite safe to 

 reckon that this ordinar)' expenditure 

 will increase annually by a quarter of a 

 million pounds, so that in 1920, when 

 the first batch of men in the citizen force 

 aged 26 pass out into the reserve, the 

 annual sum required will be £^3,665, 000. 

 New works, interest, etc., now i^ 1,277,000, 

 is hardly likely to be less than 

 i^ 1, 000,000 then. As it is frankh^ ad- 

 mitted that musketry equipment is 

 lamentably insufficient, and that con- 

 siderable sums must still be spent on 

 outfit and artillery, it looks as if in 1920 

 and following years, £^5,000,000 will be 



required for the land forces alone, if 

 the present scheme goes through. 



Naval expenditure is to be Z^2, 45 5,000 

 this year, only £^"200,000 more than Ad- 

 miral Henderson estimated. £150,000 

 of this increase has gone in higher pay 

 for the personnel than was at first 

 deemed necessary. Preserving that pro- 

 fortion, the extra cost for personnel in 

 1920 will be £"300,000, and the total 

 naval expenditure £^3,400,000, instead of 

 £"3,078,000 as estimated by the Admiral. 



At the present moment we are paying 

 24s. per head for defence. Great Bri- 

 tain pays 3 IS. 9d., Germany i8s. 9cJ., 

 France 27s. 5d., the United States 12s. 

 lod., Russia 6s. 7d., Japan 4s. 6d., 

 Canada 3s. id. If the expenditure on 

 the land forces is not checked the 

 total cost of defence in 1920 will be 

 £"8,400,000, or 32s. per head, allowing for 

 an estim.ated increase in population of 

 18 oer cent, in ten years. 



In view of the fact that Australia will 

 be faced with a deficit of some four or 

 five millions in the fi.nancial year fol- 

 lowing this, it is very evident that the 

 expenditure on defence will have to be 

 cut down to something like the estimate 

 on which it was adopted. Had we not 

 better follow South Africa's lead, and 

 see that, in carrying out our defence 

 policy we do not impose too heavy a 

 financial burden on the country ? 



Everything turns on whether Aus- 

 tralia really requires 80,000 trained men 

 between the ages of 18 and 26 to make 

 her safe. 



-She certainly does not, so long as we 

 control the sea. Clearly to have this 

 number is going to cost almost three 

 times the amount estimated when the 

 scheme was started. This expenditure 

 will inevitably cripple us in developing 

 this huge continent, and development, 

 which means additional pooulation, is 

 the supreme need of Australia just now. 



THE SOUTH AFRICAN ACT. 

 The South xA.frican Defence Scheme 

 appears to be a far more workable one 

 than ours. To begin with, .South AfricM 

 has realised her limitations as set forth in 

 the quotation at the head of this article. 

 It is, therefore, proposed "to train an- 

 nually only such a number of the citi- 



