SINGAPORE BASE

Evening Star, Issue 19725, 28 November 1927, Page 4

SINGAPORE BASE

NEW ZEALAND'S CONTRIBUTOR APPROVED BY NEW YORK PAPER. Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright* NEW YORK, November 26. The ‘New York Times’ editorially says: “The action of New Zealand irf voting £1,000,000 towards the cost of the Singapore base should not he regarded as an unfriendly gesture directed against any Power or group ot Powers bordering the Pacific. IJj merely bears witness to the loyalty or New ‘Zealand to the Empire. Since New Zealanders and Australians alike, regard Singapore as the rallying point of 1 British intersets in the Western, Pacific it is natural and proper that they should prove their faith by works. The close community of interests between the dominions and the United States lias established a. solidarity which not even the blasts of Chicago's mavor can shake. Canada, New Zealand, and Australia are pioneer countries facing problems similar to_ those faced by America, peopled by kindred stocks, and having similar forms of Government. They view the world more nearly eye to eye than do any other nations. So long as the dominions form essential links in the Empire they cauvot remain aloof from Empire defence. Hence it is only fitting that they should take a share of the cost of the defensive forces of the Empire, which, as the British delegates at the Geneva Conference aptly showed , are an essential form of protection of Britain’s far-flung lines of commerce and communication.”