SINGAPORE BASE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18015, 6 March 1924, Page 11

SINGAPORE BASE.

LECTURE TO PRESSMEN

THE ADMIRALTY VIEWPOINT

(3T CABLB—PRESS ASSOCIATION' COPTSIGHT.) (AUSTRALIAN AKD K.i. CABLK ASSOCIATION.) (Received March sth, 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, March 5. The ''Daily Herald,'' editorially, while emphasising the appointment of a Cabinet Committee to consider the Singapore question, says that the Director of the Trade Department of the Admiralty gave a lecture to newspaper men on Monday, seeking to impress the necessity of Brtiish warships in the Pacific as a protection for British trade.

The paper continues: ''This has giiven an indication of the changed line of advocacy which Earl Beatty is now adopting. He wants to make British flesh creep by talking, about the danger to trade, and hints darkly at an interruption of the food supply, and draws attention to the cheapness of insuring £800,000,000 worth of commerce with a few cruisers costing only £2.000,000 each. "This was an illustration used in the lecture, and it forces us to suggest that Earl Beatty should stop this kind of propaganda here, on a question upon which the Government has one view and the Naval Lords another. The latter have no right to use a Government Department for the purpose of persuading the Press that they are right.

"Attention should be called to tho matter in the House of Commons. Further, every opportunity must "be taken to explain the Singapore scheme and to show that it is, as the Prime Minister called it, 'colossal folly.' "

"THE TIMES" IN SUPPORT. BRITISH INTERESTS IN THE EAST. (by cable—pbess association —coptjughtO ("the c:mes.") LONDON, March 4. "The Times" vigorously champions the case of the Singapore base, which it says is vital to the safety of the Empire. As matters stand it is a melancholy fact that 110 British Fleet can effectively operate in the Pacific., where without doubt the great world issues of the future will be decided. With no base nearer than Malta for docking and repairs, the slightest damage to any ship would mean a return jounrey of several weeks before she would be ablo to operate at the scene of action. A fleet cannot operate without a base any more than, a motor-car can run indefinitely without a visit to a garage.

Considering that the whole safety of tho Empire depends on the Navy, it is doubtful whether in present circumstances the Government would be justified in sending the Fleet to Eastern waters in time of crisis. Great Britain would therefore be paralysed there. She might not be directly involved in a quarrel, but she would have to rely on the indulgence of other countries for immunity for her trade, the safety of Australia, and for the defence of her Far Eastern possessions, a quite intolerable position, for a great country.