The Chronicles of a Gay Gordon Part 18

Unquestionably the peril to Australia of attack by j.a.pan existed. Upon what grounds the j.a.panese decided to send their fleet in force to Australia it is difficult to imagine. The j.a.panese Government must have been fully aware of the fact that j.a.pan was a menace to Australia. What was their object in proposing to pay a visit which was to bring them within the territorial waters of a country which naturally looked upon them as a possible enemy nation? I have failed to get any information on this subject.

Whether the j.a.panese Government approached the Government of Australia in the matter has never been made public. The fact remains that their fleet _did_ arrive in Australian waters, that all possible courtesy was tendered to them, and that they were given every opportunity to learn much about Australia and its social and economic conditions, and to become personally acquainted with its ports and harbours. The visit of the j.a.panese Fleet was not popular with the public at large. The j.a.panese have never been _personae gratae_ to Australians. Still, when they arrived they were received in an honest, friendly way.

A very interesting point arose with reference to their visit. We were at the time about to hold a review of the metropolitan military forces in Melbourne by the Governor-General, and it was suggested to me, as Commandant, that the j.a.panese admiral should be invited to send units under his command to take part thereat. It was my duty to point out to the Commander-in-Chief that there existed an international custom that no troops of a foreign nation were allowed to land under arms on British soil. As a matter of fact, I believe this rule applies to all European nations.

In my mind I doubted whether an invitation to the j.a.panese Admiral to send units to take part in the review under the command of--to them--an alien officer, and to appear without arms, would be acceptable. The invitation, however, was sent, and an answer was received to the effect that the Admiral would be glad to avail himself of it, provided his men would be allowed to carry their arms. It then became necessary to obtain the approval of the home authorities to permit them to do so. Approval was given. The review duly took place, and some four thousand j.a.panese sailors and marines took part in it. I think I am right in stating that this was the first time that a British officer commanded troops of a foreign country under arms in time of peace on British soil.

General Hutton's term of office was nearing its end. For some time previously a movement had been started to make a radical alteration in the organization of the forces. Its object was to do away with the position of Commander-in-Chief and subst.i.tute a small Army Council, a.s.sisted by a Military Board. This was following in the footsteps of what had already taken place at home, where the post of Commander-in-Chief had been abolished on the expiration of Lord Wolseley's term of office and the Army Council const.i.tuted.

Personally I was against the proposed change. From my point of view I looked upon it as a risky experiment. The reorganization of the military forces was still in progress and a master-mind with full responsibility was necessary to complete it. Further, the proposed const.i.tution of a small Army Council and Military Board did not seem to me to be advisable.

My objections were chiefly with reference to the const.i.tution and duties laid down for the Military Board. I submitted a memorandum on the subject.

The experience I had gained while I held the appointment of Military Adviser to the Australian Colonies, 1897-99, had taught me how impossible it would be in time of war, or even in antic.i.p.ation of a war, to obtain supplies of warlike stores for Australia, not only from the Continent of Europe (whence at that time even the Home Government had to import many essential requirements, such as searchlights), but from England itself.

No further example of this need be quoted than the one given by me with reference to the scarcity of small-arm ammunition at the time of the declaration of war against South Africa.

I had determined therefore that on my return to Australia I would set myself the task of establis.h.i.+ng an Australian a.r.s.enal and an explosive factory.

The advent of the Boer War and afterwards the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia necessarily postponed any practical action.

However, on taking up my duties as Commandant of Victoria under the Commonwealth Government, I commenced to school public opinion in favour of becoming self-supporting in a matter so intimately and seriously affecting the material interests and welfare of its people. As regarded the a.r.s.enal, Australia possessed every ingredient required for the manufacture of every nature of gun, from a 9.2 to a maxim, from .303 rifle and bayonet to a service revolver. Coal, iron ore, copper, wood, tin, zinc were there in plenty.

Railway engines, agricultural implements, mining machinery were all being manufactured locally. Why not guns, mountings, rifles, and so on?

Practically similar conditions applied to explosives.

The change from the Martini-Henry to the .303 Lee-Metford, and later on from the long to the short Lee-Metford, left Australia in a sad plight.

It was some years before the Home Government were able to supply the orders sent from Australia. All through that time the local forces and rifle club members suffered from inability to obtain up-to-date rifles.

As a few thousands of the new rifles arrived they were issued to the partially-paid force, and their discarded ones were pa.s.sed on to the volunteers, and finally, when actually worn out, to the members of the rifle clubs, who mostly hung them up as trophies of a past era over their mantle-pieces at their homes, and bought up-to-date match rifles at their own expense.

The situation was becoming grave; discontent was rife; interest in rifle shooting was waning fast. The time had come for a determined effort to force the Government to take action.

One of many curious facts which it is difficult to account for is the apathy which often takes hold of a Government when a plain businesslike proposition is put before them. My long experience in dealing with Colonial Governments had taught me that the surest way of achieving one's object was to take into one's confidence the leaders of the Opposition for the time being, convince them of the soundness and merits of the proposal, and induce them to adopt the scheme as a plank of their own policy. Those in power generally resented the Opposition's interference, and at times just out of "sheer cussedness," refused to move in the matter at issue, forgetting that more than probably in a few months they themselves would be sitting disconsolate and minus their Ministerial salaries on the Opposition benches, while their late opponents scored heavily by quickly giving effect to the proposals they themselves had, through that "sheer cussedness," failed to adopt in the interests of the country. Considering how short-lived Cabinets were in the early years of Federation, there was little risk, if any, in carrying out the above plan.

As a very heavy expenditure would have to be incurred in establis.h.i.+ng an a.r.s.enal, small arms and explosives factory, it was inc.u.mbent on me to prove to the Government that such an expenditure was not only justifiable from a national insurance point of view but that it could be made actually a money-saving proposition, apart from the fact that, by utilizing Australian products and labour, as well as local inventive talent, all the money spent would remain in the country instead of pa.s.sing on into the hands of strangers.

In order to ascertain the probable expenditure of a plant capable of turning out from thirty to forty thousand rifles per annum, I personally arranged for confidential agents to make thorough inquiries in England, America and Germany, and while awaiting their report to me I gave my attention to the selection of a suitable site.

The coal mining town of Lithgow, situated some eighty miles west of Sydney, possessed so many advantages that my choice was soon made.

Leaving Sydney, the plain extends as far as Penrith, which lies at the foot of a high range happily named the Blue Mountains. The train which serves the western districts climbs its way to Katoomba and Mount Victoria, the highest point, through wonderfully picturesque scenery, and then descends rapidly to low levels, emerging at the town of Lithgow, a branch line connecting it with the southern railways system via Blayney and Young. The coal deposits at Lithgow are extensive; large fields of iron ore are available at no great distance further west. Iron and steel works on a big scale were in process of being established. Every consideration pointed to the suitability of the site, and, as a matter of fact, no voice was raised against it.

Later on I received the reports of my agents. Those from Germany were unsatisfactory. A close examination of the English and American estimates of cost showed that the English prices were exorbitant, and, in addition, the time-limit I had set for the delivery of and setting up the machinery at Lithgow, namely, eighteen months, could not be guaranteed by the English firms.

Armed now with full information, I submitted the proposal to the Government, the Minister for Defence at the time being my old acquaintance, Mr. Playford, from South Australia.

The Press and the leaders of the Opposition supported the proposal, and the Government went so far as to approve of inquiries being inst.i.tuted by the Defence Department as to the probable cost and other points of importance. Mr. Playford appointed one of our officers then in England to co-operate with the High Commissioner for the purpose. I had not deemed it necessary to inform Mr. Playford of my private inquiries, simply pointing out to him that in my opinion the factory could be established at a satisfactory figure.

Probably through lack of sufficient experience, the result of the inquiries by the officer selected was a report as to cost which practically d.a.m.ned the proposition. Mr. Playford was annoyed that I had so insistently expressed my opinion that the cost would not be prohibitory, and, as he put it in his curt way, he told me I had practically made a fool of him. I did not allow myself to be put out by his rudeness, as General Owen had done, but smiled and asked him if the Government had decided to turn the proposal down definitely. If so I would be obliged if he could let me have an official minute to that effect, as I had another course to suggest for his consideration. On receipt of his minute I requested a further interview with him. My new proposal was that I was prepared to give up my appointment and establish the factory myself, provided the Government agreed to take 20,000 rifles a year for seven years at the price which we were then paying the War Office, and that at the end of the seven years the Government could take the concern over at a valuation if they so desired. This offer I put in writing and I let it be widely known that I had made it.

Mr. Playford was once more annoyed. He could not understand how it could pay me to throw up my career to undertake a job which his advisers had reported upon so adversely. If he had been let down by them, my offer accepted, and I scored a success, what opinion would the public form of him? In order to avoid falling between two stools he decided to recommend to the Government to call for tenders throughout the world. I had impressed upon him that this was essential in order to test the _bona fides_ of the tenderers. Tenders were called for. I had gained my point, for I knew that if the confidential reports of my agents were fairly correct, the amount of the American tenders would be close on 50 per cent. lower than any others, as no European country, bar England and Germany, was in a position to undertake the order. I accordingly then informed Mr. Playford of my views on the matter and patiently waited for the day when the tenders were due. I shall not forget Mr. Playford's chagrin when he found that my forecast had been verified to the letter.

If I remember correctly the American lowest tender was some 97,000, the lowest English one some 140,000. As the tenderers were a well-known firm of high standing in the United States (contractors to their Government) their offer was accepted and the factory was established at Lithgow.

I had been successful all round, and scored at last off Playford.

General Hutton left Australia; the Army Council and Military Board were established. General Finn, a cavalry officer, who, at the time of the inauguration of the Commonwealth in 1901 was Commandant of Queensland, and had afterwards succeeded General French as Commandant in New South Wales, was appointed Inspector-General. General Hoad became Chief of the General Staff and Senior Member of the Military Board.

My term of office as Commandant of Victoria expired. I was offered the command of "The Mother State," New South Wales, which became vacant on the appointment of General Finn as Inspector-General. I accepted. It was one more step to my final goal.

CHAPTER III

COMMANDANT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Shortly after I took up the command in New South Wales an incident occurred which gave the first real impetus to the serious consideration and final adoption by the Government of the system of universal service as proposed by me eleven years before when Commandant in Adelaide. I had arranged to read a paper to my officers in New South Wales. Owing to the fact that our own military inst.i.tute was not sufficiently large to accommodate them we had made arrangements to hire one of the big public halls, and we had decided to ask the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Alderman Allan Taylor, to take the chair and to send invitations to many of the chief citizens to be present. My object in reading this paper was to push on the question of universal service. The t.i.tle I had selected for the lecturette was, "What has Australia done for the Australians, and What are Australians doing for Australia?" After I had finished the Lord Mayor made a few remarks with reference to the subject at issue and concluded by moving a vote of thanks. This was really outside our practice at the inst.i.tute. I thanked the Lord Mayor for his kind remarks, and in quite a colloquial way said that it was distressing to go round the public parks about Sydney on holidays and Sat.u.r.day afternoons and see thousands of young men sitting on fences smoking cigarettes, content to loaf and look on while a few men played games. It happened that the previous Sat.u.r.day had been the last day of one of the cricket Test Matches, against England played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The attendance thereat had been enormous, as usual--some thirty-five thousand people. The next morning I was astonished when I got the morning papers to see the following headings: "The Citizens of Sydney insulted.... Forty thousand loafers at the Sydney Cricket Ground. So says our new Commandant, General Gordon."

Then followed a statement to the effect that while addressing the officers under his command and many eminent citizens the evening before, the general had stated that on the previous Sat.u.r.day he had been present at the Sydney Cricket Ground and had seen thousands of loafers whose time would have been far better taken up if they had been devoting it to fitting themselves for the defence of their country, and that they (the newspaper reporters) considered it a very undeserved reflection on the thousands who were watching the big tussle at the Test Match.

Knowing full well that these headings would have been telegraphed to the Press throughout Australia and have appeared therein that same morning, I at once wired to the Military Board, for the information of the Minister, to the effect that the newspaper reports were inaccurate. I was reported also to have stated that I had ready for the consideration of the Government a scheme which would form the basis upon which to found a system of universal service. This latter part of their report was correct. I had made that statement. I had prepared the scheme in Adelaide eleven years before.

Shortly after sending my wire to the Military Board I received one from them drawing my attention to the Press reports and requesting an explanation as to their correctness as regarded the "thousands of loafers," and further desiring to be informed if the statement as to the scheme for universal service was accurate, and, if so, instructing me to forward it for the information of the Minister by the first post. My own telegram, which had crossed theirs, had answered their first question.

With reference to the second I notified them that the scheme would be posted that afternoon. I can reproduce here the actual doc.u.ment which I sent down. It read as follows:

SCHEME for the defence of the Commonwealth of Australia, based on the recognition by the citizens of the Commonwealth of the personal responsibility on the part of one and all to prepare themselves in time of peace so as to enable them to bear their share of the burden of the protection of the Commonwealth and Empire in time of war.

I

GENERAL VIEW OF PRESENT SITUATION

It is submitted that:

(a) The national growth of a nation depends on the recognition of the personal responsibility of that nation's citizens to develop her industrial and commercial interests and the integrity thereof.

(b) In the present economic conditions of a young nation such as Australia (an island continent containing an area of practically one-third of the British Empire whose population totals only some five millions of inhabitants), it is not considered advisable or even practicable to establish and maintain a standing army of sufficient strength to enable the nation to put its trust for its protection on such a standing army and, thereby, relieve the rest of its male inhabitants from the responsibility of service in case of an invasion.

The maintenance of such a standing army would, it is urged, be a direct loss, as it would severely cripple the best interests of the economic development of the nation in time of peace, specially in the early years of the nation's growth, and it would entail an expenditure not justifiable under such circ.u.mstances.

(c) On the other hand, it is contested that, if a system of training every young man can be devised:

1stly, To have a sound mind in a sound body;

2ndly, To submit to military discipline;

3rdly, To shoot straight;

and

4thly, To learn sufficient drill to enable him to fulfil his duties in the ranks with such knowledge and intelligence as will give him the necessary confidence in himself; and that system is so carried out that it does not interfere in any way with the industrial, professional, or commercial avocations of such young men, then the foundation will be laid of a national defence force based on the highest principles of citizens.h.i.+p which will be of the greatest value for home defence or to fight away from her sh.o.r.es in the interests of the Empire.