LAYMAN JOHN CITIZEN.

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 56, 4 September 1945, Page 6

LAYMAN JOHN CITIZEN.

SINGAPORE IN 1929

Sir,—"A Christening or a Funeral." This caption was given to a cablegram dated Singapore, August 14, 1929, which read: "At the opening of the floating dock at the naval base, in the presence of a large and representative gathering, the Governor, Sir Hugh Clifford, said he had not been consulted as to the future of the base, and there was some doubt as to whether the ceremony was a christening or a funeral. He did not think that the final decision would be reached on this momentous subject without the rulers of the Malay States being consulted, having regard to the fact that they had contributed two million sterling." An ominous remark, as events show, for the then Governor to make. It, however, goes to show by what the world has gone through that there should be no doubt whatever that the safety of our possessions in the Southwest Pacific must be of paramount importance, otherwise the Mother Country will lack help in the event of another world upheaval from that quarter.'—l am, etc., R. F. E. FILDES.