HOUSE OF COMMONS

Evening Star, Issue 20129, 20 March 1929, Page 11

HOUSE OF COMMONS

BRITISH MINING INDUSTRY % THE SINGAPORE BASE Pres* Association—By Telegraph—.Copyright* LONDON, March IT, j (Received March 20, at 1.45 p.m.) ij In tiie House of Commons Captain; King (Under-Secretary of Wines), in. answer to a question said file esti- * mated losses in the British mining industrv were between £10,000,000 and £11,000,000. On the vote of £1,097,000 for naval building works, M C. G. Ammon (Labour) moved u reduction in the vote owing to the expenditure on the Singapore base, which was alarming to other nations and violated Britain’s pence pro* testations. Mr W. C. Bridgemnn (First Lord of the Admiralty), replying, _ said that Singapore was a pivotal point enabling the fleet to he more mobile The total cost had been reduced by £8,000,000 to £7,750,000, in which Hongkong, New - Zealand and Malaya had made contributions. Mr Ammon; “What about Australia

Mr Bridgemau: “ Australia, when Labour was in oflice in 1024, naturally did not contribute what it intended because the Labour Ministry declined to go on with the based which Australia wanted, and Australia, instead, decided to lay down two, instead of one, cruisers. Commander Kcnwurthy (Labour) said that Sydney would be a muck better battleship'base than Singapore. The Malacca Straits could be easily defended by means oi submarines and mines. It was very likely Unit the next Washington Conference would declare battleships obsolete, making tho Singapore base useless. The amendment was rejected by Lid votes to 78, and the vote was carried. —Australian Press Association-United Service.