The Evening Star TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1938. SINGAPORE BASE.

Evening Star, Issue 22883, 15 February 1938, Page 8

The Evening Star TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1938. SINGAPORE BASE.

The opening yesterday of the huge new graving dock at Singapore was an event of Empire-wide interest. Indeed, it may not be too much to say that it will have attracted some attention in others \besides Empire countries, though it is to be hoped that foreign nations that take cognisance of it and of the construction of the whole base will readily accept the true interpretation of this example of British enterprise and forethought in Eastern seas—the defence of British possessions and trade. When declaring the dock open, the Governor of the Straits Settlements (Sir Shenton Thomas) reiterated what every British subject knows in his heart to be a fact, that the base is not a challenge to war; on the contrary, it is an insurance against war, a potent influence for civilisation and peace. It would be difficult to find grounds for»any notion that the establishment of the base could alarm Japan., The Japanese must know that, while Singapore is at the entrance to the Pacific and is therefore in the best position for guarding main trade routes, it is considerably further from Japan than it is from either India or Australia. It should be regarded as no more a menace to Nippon than Gibraltar is to Sweden, the distance being about equal in each case. It is obvious that, from the military viewpoint, the base can be effective in the main only as a well-nigh impregnable station in itself and as a centre from which a powerfuLdefensive cordon could be thrown out as a protection for countries like Australia and New Zealand. It is pleasing to note that New Zealand’s financial assistance towards the building of the base has.been gratefully acknowledged by Colonel J. J. Llcwellin, M.P., Civil Lord of the Admiralty, who was one of the speakers at the opening of the new graving dock. The acknowledgment comes as a timely if not premeditated reply to the recent accusations of a New Yorik newspaper against the “ selfish and 1 take-all ’ British dominions which are allowing Great Britain and the United States to bear -the burden of the defence costs in which the two great democracies have involved themselves.” New Zealand has contributed the amount of £1,000,000, spread over a number of years, to the construction of the base. The decision to make that contribution, reached by Parliament in 1927, was opposed by all the members nf the Labour Party, including live of the present Ministers. It was stated on their behalf that there was- not a Labour Government in the Empire that was not opposed to the project, on which Mr Ramsay MacDonald’s Government in Great Britain had suspended work as a peace gesture to the nations, that decision being reversed by its successors, with the endorsement of an Imperial Conference, when' the others continued to arm. With the havoc in China caused by Japanese aggression held before it as an object lesson, the New Zealand Labour party, whether or not it advertises the fact, will no doubt be ready to renounce its former declaration of policy and admit that the 1927 measure was a wise provision. All that remains to be done, both here and in Australia, is to organise the defence system, including, of course, that pertaining to the land forces, on such a scale that the two most southerly British possessions will be able further to take a load off the Mother Country’s shoulders by giving a good account 'of ' themselves in repulsing possible attempts at a landing by such enemy forces as might manage to filter through the Singapore cordon. Relatively small though their respective populations may be, the task of dealing with an enemy far removed from its bases would not prove the hopeless task that some pessimists appear to think. Started originally as a small trading post, the Singapore base has sprung into being as one of the most wonderful defence undertakings the world has seen. It has been said that naval bases are never actually completed, because they must always change and develop in accordance with changing technical requirements. Nevertheless, the opening of the new graving dock, which, romantically in a sense, has been carved out of tho swamp and jungle so as to accommodate the largest battleships afloat, is one of the really big steps towards full attainment of the strength planned lor Singa [lore.