NEW GIBRALTAR.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 166, 14 July 1914, Page 9

NEW GIBRALTAR.

SAM AT KOKOX.TTX.IT.

jjjjßE IS ONLY COT MEANING.

a. San Francisco special corrcspon; tnf the Svdncv '-Sunday Times. *?» .-.-Without any flourishes oi * »te or loud beating of drums, is making of Hawaii the key tf. Pacific for which she acquired it. ££to is taking no chance,. The &n qU»tion is - vital on the & Coast of America as ever it «< ?t-.tralia. Cnele --am realises it. jrZ',* making of the island of Oahu. JLVlittle plot of land upon which JiM town of Honolulu has ™!«m into being, the most important Starr, naval, and strrateg-iv base in tue J-je Pacific Ocean. jHE TWO OPPOSING FACTOR-". v - hi le the* casual observer does not M what is really going on there, he fail to be impressed by two acfT Every third man the traveller °„te in Honolulu is a United States rtldier or sailor. Of the other two. L may he an American, an Amenni .-ed foreigner, or a native Hawaiian. Ih/nnaccounted for -third party" is a Itpancsc Mixed beyond recognition L, bo the other factors in this wonSfrfSv cosmopolitan little city, "but those "two stand out all the time, fjcle ; * r "-"' ? b°? in h ' s kha - ki J a< -' ket - Ms do-J h hat,"and (his riding pants. uJj the little Japanese, with his. eye limits glued to the main chance. STRONGER GARRISON EVERY YE.VR. Strong*- and stronger does that garrison oi United States troops become cith year. Stronger and stronger bertine the fortifications wiitich are being erected. Bigger and bigger become those naval supply stores, those coal leaps, and now those oil tanks, for al! tlie latest vessels of the American Navy ye oil-burner?. Backed by the Government of the Union, the Hawaiian Legislituro is pouring hundreds of bhoujjuds of dollaJß into that harbour. But ivery dollar is being made to serve its purpose, and the harbour facilities are beinj improved every year. Unnoticed In- the casual observer. Pearl Harbour. jist adjacent to Honoltrhi. is being made into a have." where tbe biggest battleship may be afforded safe anchorage. (PREPARING FOR A "GREAT DAY." Already the island of Oahu is almost impregnable, a veritable Gibraltar. Twelve-inch guns protect the commercial and naval hatrbours. Twelve-inch guns, too, of the latest type. And the men iebind these 12in guns last year put np a world's record at battle practice. And while all these preparations arc king made against an American "Great Day," ox, possibly, it is another nation •atliich. has the "Great Day" idea more ieenly on its mind, as is the case round stoat the North f-ea. the commercial advantages of this island port of Honolulu are not being forgotten. BIGGER SHIPS THAN THE NIAGARA. The operations in the liarbour naturilly snit the merchant vessrils at the present time more tthan they do the -war loats. The biggest boats ply-injj in the Pacific may draw right alongside the docks in, safe anchorage. Do not. run airay with the idea that there are no tery big ships in tlie Pacific. Tihe Niagara, which is the largest vessel trading between Australia and America, and is one of the larffesit vessels trading from anywhere to Sydney, dwarfs alongside the big vessels which run from San Francisco across to China and Japan. Twenty-five, thirty thousand tons sees the present limit of these, but each successive boat placed into commission is bigger than the last. The Niazara is Duly 13,000 tons — than half the size «f the giant liners sailing under the British, the American, and the Japanese ■flap in the North Pacific And bigger boats will cross to Australia. Tlie Union Company has another Niagara on the way. Should they pull off the Bail contract—and if they can deliver Jxmdon letters in Sydney in twenty-six days, there is no reason wtoy they should not get it—the Oceanic Company will •put on some bigger vessels. Rumour lias it that they have a couple of Cunardcrs under offer, and a.s their schedule now operates to fit in with the trips of the Cunard liners across tihe Atlantic bo that no time will be lost in the conveyance of mails from London to Sydney, there -would seem to be some truth in the rumour. As it is. the Oceanic Company are Kintcmplating remodeliinjr the Sierra. "'Mch, since the three American boats were again put into commission, has heen Tunning to Honolulu, and putting ler on the Sydney voyage. This- will provide for a fast three-rveekly service to America and thence to London. All this means added Importance for Honolulu, the rroes Toads of the Pacific Realising this. Uncle Sam will continue to pour in his soldiers, continue to erect his fortifications, continue to "ake in the heart of the Pacific an entrepot for the commercial navies of ihe world in time of peace, and a bulwark for himself in time of war.