1282 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [PART V
The proposal then made by Mr. Deakin was to substitute
for the present Commonwealth subsidy 1,000 seamen—
Australians if possible—to be paid by the Commonwealth,
for service in the navy on the station, at an estimated cost
of about £100,000 per annum to the Commonwealth, the
remainder of the subsidy to be applied by the Commonwealth
to obtaining submersibles or destroyers, or similar local
defences. At the same time, two cruisers of P. or a superior
class, manned by 400 of the 1,000 Australians, should be re-
tained on the coast in peace or war. In addition, the Com-
monwealth would provide in 1907 £250,000 for harbour and
coast defences, and £50,000 for the fortification of harbours.
The Admiralty? in reply, pointed out that at the Colonial
Conference no proposal had been made for the permanent
retention of cruisers in Australian waters, and that while
anxious to meet the wishes of Mr. Deakin, they were not
prepared to depart from the decision taken up at the Con-
ference, that while they did not themselves propose to cancel
the agreement with Australia and New Zealand, yet if the
Commonwealth Government desired to cancel the agreement
and to substitute other arrangements, they were willing to
advise and assist in carrying out a scheme for local defences,
always provided that such a scheme did not involve a
definite obligation to maintain British vessels permanently
in Australian waters. They also regarded it as essential
that complete control by the Commander-in-Chief over the
local forces in time of war must be secured to the Imperial
Government.
After further correspondence, Mr. Deakin requested that
the Admiralty should draw up a scheme to provide for the
atilization of Australian seamen in local defences, and for
connexion of the Australian flotilla with His Majesty’s fleets
of war. This scheme was forwarded to Australia in August,
1908. It was based on the principle that the Commonwealth
Government should provide and maintain nine submarines
and six destroyers in Australian waters; that this flotilla
should be manned by officers and men of the Royal Navy, as
- Parl. Pap., Cd. 4325, pp. 1-3. * Ibid., pp. 3, 4, 6.
