CHAPTER X
DEFENSE AND POLICE
The external defense of the colonies depends primarily upon the navy, and its consideration belongs rather to national politics than to the subject of colonial administration. The naval system of a great empire is a unit no matter how far its influence may extend and how ramified may be the routes over which it attempts to exercise control ; therefore as long as colonies retain their position of dependence their naval defense must be primarily in the hands of the mother country and controlled by a central admiralty.
In this chapter we are more directly interested in the colonial army as the instrument of defense which comes into immediate contact with the organs of colonial administration. The functions of the colonial army are of a threefold character. Its purpose is to defend colonial possessions against attacks from without, to preserve internal order by suppressing rebellions among the natives, and to. assist in the development of the colony in times of peace by engaging in the construction of public works. In order to maintain the highest degree of military efficiency it is necessary that the morale and physique of the men 392