SINGAPORE DOCK.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18367, 28 April 1925, Page 11

SINGAPORE DOCK.

IN JAPAN

IYDNEY SUGGESTED AS A BASE.

(nox ova own coniiEsro.NDENT.)

LONDON, March 10.

■ : i;£ltiiougli the' Government has dcli- ' ultely decided to go on with* the con-jtrucdpn-}of L thc Singapore Dock, it is BvieteiiV;fhat\tho 'critics of the seheme their protests'until the .>'lffl^mi6riieni , . The Executive of the Nations: Union ha 5 addressvrfJji^^oreigh, Secretary on the sub- ■;■ put before him a resolufrom the League of Na- - of Japan. The JapI moae Association expresses the view :-. ■ i^;the ;< ekecution. of tho base plan VW& produce an unfavourable reacißSion the traditionally friendly relaJapan and England, ifctho reply from tho Foreign Office fitttUted: vsjk policy underlying the developh.ftßßt'iof Singapore as a naval base is ilteejlfticn has been tho keynote of Brit-. policy for a great number of 'f!ft£t& namely, that the British Fleet able to proceed to any part of where important British terSbrrial and commercial' interests exist. osjb a matter for regret that there are boih in this country and in jtfitpan who have been misled by current phrases, and have given little or no attention to the real factors of the situa- . taon, and'especially to the dominating of distance. Singapore is over 12300 miles from Japan pioper (approxiImatelv the distance of Plymouth from phe United States of America). . . In |U>e years before the Great War the fßritish land. German 7lcets faced each ptter across .a few miles of sea. Every fifojrre .on either side, therefore, gave fiise to-immediate suspicion. But with of 2300 miles intervening, a situation could not possibly de-> Jrelpp, even if; the countries concerned §*ere not bound to one another by |B|Utual interests in the preservation of Jjjttfce, and by'the bonds of an historic ffriendship." i ~

Japanese Viewpoint. < A correspondent of the "Morning Post" points out that Japan does not deny the right of Great Britain to forJtifv' Singapore. lint though the agitation *agaiiißt the proposal is not official, the Ration is obviously much against it. , lhe movement is undoubtedly based on « growing suspicion of Britain and America as regards their alleged mis*trndT of Japan. There seems to preJ*fl in Japan a conviction that England t md the United States, having disposed Qjfrmany, are now bent on curbing papain, if not on depriving her of naturj,** nfehts. "First. Japan wajs induced rfwjdjin the Washington Conference, and'v«gre| to a retrenchment of naval armaTho United States immediately an agitation against Japanese 3 Migration and forthwith enacted legation discriminating against Japanese while ordering naval manoeuthat Japan regards as tantamount yQa naval demonstration in the Pacific. secret of Japanese opposition lies i'gihe fact that the people of thatcounl%*consider any further fortification of j'lfijtic territory hy Western nations as of the doctrine of Asia |flr the Asiatics. It is contended that

Ijgkjs as much entitled to a Monroe Ijfij-Wne as the United States is, for its nSi * bc Atlantic • a,ld since the Althe American doctrine at 'M* • a . ce Conference of Versailles, the? Justice bound to admit a similar for Eastern Asia. ■%l Vfhf Not at Sydney? |£-ul a \eiy temperate leading article iSP Dallv Mail" suggests that before |V«ry large sum of money is spent it tjgSNd only be wise to look very care-*K"W-«it the facts and to make certain '^^ ariOUS uestions ca a De answered ttnlfc j new naval I}ase to *** con " "ftSJIr at s 'ng a pore, quite outside the fortifications, good defences 'WU®!* 0 be P rovided , and thev' will 3 2ptff garrisoned. Is >!i? ar ,P ffice readv to provide the TjSfwable force of white troops that ! WiSS. n edj and nas ,ts agreement ! ? Durin g the Greafc War *JBhJ3!r a experience afr ' tmrnft fe ' m tne mutinv of the Indian ' imfSi Btat ' oned tnere - mutinv was BgtJu? by our °»' n wi "'te forces, as*?»«^l1 onr allies, the Japanese. "SSfifiln • P rotecti on of. the Pacific, I On^ejf 0 . ls not altogether well placed. 111 ! 1111 ? 1 * 8 * 8 a l6 in Australia and %&& • JU J d - From tie vulnerable +? Australian territory, which IPra&LwT' 638 * coast -°f' that continent, Ter y remote. From SingaSlflfflSs oyaney, for example, is 4300 Jsj3L or n **C 1 y ; «* far as Liverpool to Would it not be better, if iligßrk &re needed f° r the Navy, to Smst?* constructing them in Austrat mper ? t « climate where the lIIIIhLS S5? n *' n e a garrison would ISfenn«h "' Inis wonld probably meet si Dominions."