SINGAPORE TASK

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 161, 10 July 1945, Page 5

SINGAPORE TASK

Jdfcs Claim Big Preparations For Defence BRITISH MUST BETAKE BASE Rec. 1Q a.m. NEW YORK, July 9. The Japanese-controlled Batavia radio says that 24,000. Chinese, Malayans, Eurasians and Arabs are standing by in Singapore for any emergency. The radio adds that thousands of Singapore office workers have volunteered for labour service and have begun strengthening the defences.

If Great Britain intends to retain her Asiatic empire, as she surely does, she must sooner or later retake Singapore, says . the New York Times in an editorial. Once the Nicobar Islands (west of Malaya) are occupied, the British will com'' mand the western exit from Singapore and might move either on Sumatra or the Malayan coast. But Singapore is the ultimate goal. It is the keystone to Japan's stolen empire and the collapse of that empire would follow its fall.