fleet entered the Heads, and, clearing
the inner point of the South Heads, made direct for the anchorage up the
harbour, followed by the remaining fifteen men-of-war.

Previous to the arrival of the fleet a question had arisen which had much
exercised the Government and civic authorities of Sydney. It was
understood that during the stay of the fleet in Sydney Harbour--about ten
days--there would be, daily, visiting the city anywhere from six to ten
thousand officers and men on liberty leave. The authorities thought that
it would be advisable to make some provision for military picquets and
extra police in case of disturbances, and they approached me with a view
to our supplying the wished-for military assistance. I pointed out that
there was positively no precedent for such action, especially in the case
of visiting guests. It was the privilege of the guests to look after the
behaviour of their own men and to land their own picquets if they
considered them necessary. At the same time I ventured to suggest that it
might be thought advisable to enrol a number of special constables--who,
of course, would be in plain clothes and unknown--to assist the police if
required. It is to the credit of the officers and men of the American
Fleet that during their stay in Sydney, though thousands landed daily and
many were allowed over-night leave, no disturbances of any kind occurred,
and to see any one of them the worse for drink was the exception.

Naturally, throughout the whole of the State of New South Wales, right to
the very backblocks, there was an earnest wish on the part of the members
of the New South Wales military forces to be in Sydney at the time of the
fleet's visit. So I had arranged to hold the annual camp of Continuous
Training at that period. The attendance in this camp almost beat the
record of the one we had held at the time of Lord Kitchener's visit.

As usual the public were very anxious for a review to be held, and the
matter was freely aired in the Press. The Government of New South Wales
was only too glad to meet their wishes, and requested me to make the
necessary arrangements. Here then was a repetition of what had occurred
in Melbourne at the time of the visit of the Japanese Fleet. The same
difficulty was in the way--that no troops of a foreign country were
permitted to land under arms on British soil. I pointed this out to the
Government, but drew their attention to the fact that a precedent had
been