Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Saturday 28 July 1906, page 6


MR. FRANK BULLEN OUTSPOKEN.

'You are living in a fool's paradise,' remarked Mr. Frank Bullen to a New Zealand interviewer, referring to the Australasian Squadron. 'What do you pay in

subsidy? A mere £240,000. What can you do with that? If you paid at the rate that the people of England, with all their poverty and misery, pay, you would be contributing a million and a quarter annually. It is imperative that you should equip yourselves with an efficient navy; either pay England enough, or get an Australasian Navy of your own. But where would you be if three second-rate Japanese cruisers came here and bombarded you? I quite agree that you should train up every able-bodied man to handle a rifle and shoot straight; but what earthly good would they be, supposing every man was , as sure as the Boers, if a hostile fleet was standing three miles out to sea and smashing your forts to smithereens? What good would all your sharpshooters on land be then? They could only stand by and look on whilst the place was smashed up. Out here in the Pacific you are defenceless. The time is coming when Germany will embroil England in conflict, and England will have to fight single-handed. There's no doubt about it; Germany is increasing her armaments as fast as she can, and she is making no secret of it; she is flaunting her intention, as any one can see by reading the German newspapers, which are all practically the mouthpiece of the Kaiser. And yet, in face of this, we have that unspeakable Government at home proposing to reduce the naval expenditure! Bah! This question of a navy is one of vital importance to you in New Zealand. In the event of a war such as I have suggested, what is to prevent a piratical fleet fitting out at New Guinea, say, and descending on this country? And what means would you have to repel it?''