§ SIR J. COLOMB (Great Yarmouth)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the Defence Committee of the Cabinet have had under consideration 553 the fact that the United Kingdom devotes over 20 per cent, of its revenue to provide for the naval protection of the Empire, while the Australasian Colonies, with an aggregate annual revenue of over £28,000,000, spend nothing at all on the fleet available for the general service of the Empire, and do not spend even 0.05 per cent, of such aggregate revenue for the naval protection of their own trade in their own waters; and whether the statement of the Duke of Devonshire, President of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet, on the 18th instant, that the Australian Colonies have made a very liberal contribution to the maintenance of the British Navy is to be regarded as an official pronouncement of that Committee?
THE CHANCELLOR, OF THE EXCHEQUERI can make no statement as to the first paragraph of the Question. With regard to the second, my noble Friend was speaking of the agreement which has, for some years, been existing between the Australian Colonies and this country, the renewal of which is now under consideration. The lines of that agreement have always been known. I do not think I should have used the adjective if I had been referring to it—but perhaps I look at this matter, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, from a special point of view.