1264 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [paRTV 
regard to the Imperial forces, and still more of course the 
legal position of his ministers, is a simple one. As laid down 
in No. 10 of the Colonial Regulations it is the general 
obligation of all His Majesty's civil and military officers 
to offer mutual assistance to each other in cases affecting 
the King’s service ; and by the King’s regulations for the 
navy, the Commander-in-Chief of a station, or the senior 
officer present at a port, is instructed to pay due regard to 
such requisitions as he may receive from the Governor having 
for their object the protection of His Majesty’s possessions, 
the benefit of the trade of his subjects, or the general good 
of his service. The Colonial Regulations also provide 
11. In urgent cases, when the requisitions may conflict 
with the instructions from the superior naval authority under 
which he is acting, and when reference by telegraph or 
otherwise to such superior authority is impracticable, a 
naval officer is instructed to consider the relative importance 
and urgency of the required service as compared with his 
instructions, whether general or special ; and he is to decide 
as in his judgement may seem best for His Majesty’s service. 
In so doing he is instructed to bear in mind the grave respon- 
sibility that would rest on him if the circumstances were not 
such as to fully warrant the postponement of the instructions 
from his naval superior to the more pressing requisition from 
the Governor. 
12. In cases where high political considerations demand 
the decision of His Majesty’s Government in respect of the 
action to be taken, the Governor should communicate his 
opinion that the presence of one of His Majesty’s ships is 
necessary direct to the Secretary of State, instead of direct 
to the commanding officer of His Majesty’s ship, unless the 
lives and property of British subjects are in such imminent 
peril as to demand immediate action. 
Recently in Australasia a determined effort has been made 
to reorganize the military forces on a more effective basis, a 
desire no doubt prompted by the growth of a strong power in 
the Far East, and stimulated by a visit of Lord Kitchener in 
1910 to Australia and New Zealand. The military defence 
proposals of the Commonwealth as introduced in the Defence 
Acts of 1909 (No. 15)and 1910(No. 37) contemplate the setting 
on foot of a total citizen army of 127,000 men, to be raised