BRITISH FLEET IN PACIFIC

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22592, 23 December 1938, Page 9

BRITISH FLEET IN PACIFIC

STRENGTH SUFFICIENT FOR DEFENCE

LONDON. December 21. In the House of Commons the Financial Secretary to the Admiralty (Mr Geoffrey Shakespeare), replying to Lieutenant-Commander R. T. Fletcher (Labour), said that it was not in the public interest to disclose the future disposition of British warships at Singapore.

Lieutenant-Commander Fletcher: I- the Admiralty satisfied that in the event of capital snips becoming necessary for the defence of Australia, Britain will be able to provide them?

Mr Shakespeare: The Federal Defence Minister (Mr G. A. Street) accurately stated the position at Canberra on December 7.

Outlining Australia’s tlmee-year defence programme on December 7, Mr Street made it clear that the basis of Australia’s defence preparations lay in co-ordination with the British Navy.

, “We look to Britain in an emergency to station at Singapore a fleet of sufficient strength to safeguard the interests of the Empire in the Eastern Hemisphere,” he said. “There has been much loose talk about the recent crisis proving that this could not be done. On the contrary, the Government has sound grounds to be reassured on - this point.”