964 



REVIEW OE REVIEWS. 



Decemhfr 1, 1913. 



on defence, and then devising a plan of 

 armament, which would be within the 

 annual budget available, an entirely op- 

 posite policy was adopted. Our leaders 

 decided that we required a complete and 

 powerful Australian fleet, and became 

 obsessed with the idea that the country 

 would not be safe unless every man were 

 compelled to train in arms. Having 

 adopted these axioms as fundamental 

 to any defence scheme, they obtained 

 expert advice as to the best method of 

 carrying out their wishes. The task of 

 Admiral Henderson and Lord Kitchener 

 was only to advise on the schemes al- 

 ready decided on. They had to set out 

 what they considered would be the most 

 efficient plan to adopt along certain 

 lines. This the}- did. They added es- 

 timates of the cost, but the financial 

 side of the scheme was not for them to 

 advise on. It was the dut}- of those en- 

 trusted b)' the electors with the Com- 

 monwealth's money, to see that Austra- 

 lia was not launching forth on a scheme 

 of defence far in excess of what she 

 could afford. That responsible states- 

 men could have dared to commit the 

 country to an expenditure which they 

 must have known would speedily cost 

 more per head than any other nation in 

 the world was paying, is almost incom- 

 prehensible ; in fact, it can only be ex- 

 plained by assuming that the hysterical 

 scaremongers, allied with those deter- 

 mined to introduce conscription at all 

 costs, had affected them with their own 

 reckless hysteria. 



VARIOUS SUGGESTIONS. 

 The imperative need of reducing the 

 military expenditure immediately is 

 obvious. How can this be done? \^ari- 

 ous suggestions have been made, all 

 aiming at reducing" the number of 

 trainees. A real medical examination on 

 the lines insisted on in European con- 

 script armies. The entire abolition of 

 junior cadet training, and the reduction 

 of the period of training in the citizen 

 force, from seven to five years, are some 

 of the remedies suggested. None of 

 these proposals would accomplish the 

 end in view, although they would pre- 

 vent our having to spend the huge sum 

 the present scheme must involve us in 

 some years hence. In considering the 



question, we must always bear in mind 

 that we are not yet dealing with any- 

 thing like the full plan yet. Only 17,000 

 of the citizen forces are as yet in train- 

 ing. They will not be complete for 

 another five years. Then 80,000 citizen 

 soldiers will be in training, and 90,000 

 senior cadets. It is impossible to obtain 

 particulars of the detail expenditure on- 

 junior, senior, and citizen forces, respec- 

 tively, but one figure we do know,, 

 namely, that the entrance of i6,000' 

 senior cadets into the citizen forces en- 

 tails an expenditure of ^^200,000 every 

 year. If training is cut down by twO' 

 years, ^^^400,000 would presumably be 

 saved. The present medical inspection 

 of those entering the junior and senior 

 cadets is obviously a farce. It is absurd 

 to assume that 97.7 per cent, and 90.4 

 per cent, respectively of those who come- 

 up for compulsory examination are 

 really fit for military service. The 

 doctors are evidently more severe when 

 examining senior cadets who enter the 

 citizen forces, as only 71.9 per cent, are 

 passed, enough to give the 16,000 de- 

 manded by the Kitchener scheme. 



WHAT COULD BE SA\'ED. 

 In Switzerland, to whose defence- 

 system ours most nearly corres- 

 ponds, only about 50 per cent, of 

 the men pass the doctor. If, then, 

 the doctors reduce the 16,000 quotas 

 entering the citizen forces annually, to- 

 10,000, there shoujd be a saving of 

 i^70,ooo a year. In five years this would 

 mean ^,'3 50,000. Thus, a drastic medi- 

 cal examination, and the reduction of 

 training by two years, would represent 

 a saving of ^^750,000 in 1920, but would 

 still leave an expenditure on land de- 

 fence alone of ^^3, 750,000, instead of 

 the i^i, 884,000 estimated. The aboli- 

 tion of the junior cadets might save a 

 quarter of a million more — although 

 that is pure conjecture. Obviously there 

 will have to be drastic economies in 

 establishment charges in addition. It 

 is almost impossible to discover what 

 charges are recurring and what onl)- 

 initial, but there must be great waste 

 somewhere. Even allowing for the 

 heavy cost of everytliing in Australia 

 compared to Europe, it is impossible tO' 

 understand how even if the present esti- 



