AUSTRALIAN DEFENCES.
boats only amount to 232 men, so that the margin is ample. The torpedo depôt is in excellent order, and the torpedo-boats are frequently exercised at steam tactics and in running torpedoes. The Cerberus is also in good condition. The personnel is, on the whole, good and efficient; but the reductions in its numbers, as well as in its pay, in common with other branches of the public service, and the consequent uncertainty as to the future, must tend to have an adverse effect on efficiency.
Fortifications—armaments—garrison.Upwards of 900,000l. have been spent on fortifications and their armaments by the Colony of Victoria. Port Phillip, like Port Jackson, has been made one of the most strongly defended ports of the Empire. The entrance is narrow, and a vessel must pass for several miles along a channel commanded on both sides by the guns in the forts; mining defences are also provided. The forts are manned by 288 Permanent Artillery—a very fine corps—who would be supplemented in wartime by 675 Garrison Artillery Militia, a large proportion of whom are recruits. The total military force of Victoria, including the above, numbers about 5000 men—of whom 2985 are militia, 775 are volunteers in the Victoria Mounted Rifles, and 899 are in the Victorian Rangers.
Defences of New South Wales.In New South Wales no ships are at present maintained by the Colonial Government. There are two partially paid naval forces. The naval brigade consists, for the most part, of ex-seamen, whose duties in case of war would apparently be to assist in manning the forts. The Naval Artillery Volunteers would man the torpedo-boats. The guns in the defences of Sydney Heads are mounted at a good height above the sea, and are well distributed. I must leave it to experts199
