PACIFIC DEFENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 April 1936, Page 12

PACIFIC DEFENCE

ISLANDS OF HAWAII Plans for the complete modernisation of the United States Army in Hawaii at a cost of 50,000,000 dollars (about £10,000,000 at par), to be expended over five years, have been levealed in more or less detail by MajorGeneral Hugh A. Drum, commanding the Hawaiian department. General Drum last December laid the whole programme before the military subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee of the Lower House of Congress. So far no definite action has been taken upon his proposals, which include vast sums for equipment and an expenditure of 29,000,000 dollars for the improvement of Army housing facilities. . , If the plan should be earned through intact, it would entail federal appropriations for Hawaii of 11,000,000 dollars during the first three years, 9,000,000 dollars the fourth year, and 7,000,000 dollars tne fifth. The exact, total contemplated in the scheme is 49,661,31 v dollars. General Drum, in commenting on his plan, said his proposals call for modernisation of all existing Hawaii aerodromes, rather than the construction of anv new ones, with the exception of the 18,000,000 dollar Hickam Field, which is already well under way. Under his plan regular Army troops will be stationed on the islands of Hawaii at the south-east end of the Archipelago, and at Kauai the next island north-west from Oahu, which is to be made even more a strong point or ‘“keep” than it now is. General Drum also expects an increase in troop strength in Hawaii, so that not less than 25,000 enlisted men will be available, with at least 1000 commissioned officers. If funds tor this are made available by Congress, the first reinforcements should arrive by July 1 of this year.

The programme falls into two main divisions, one of tne purely defensive requirement for which General Drum proposes to expend 20,334,377 dollars, and the other for the “‘human needs.” Included in the second division are matters of housing, storage, increase in the grades and ratings of enlisted men, improvement of water supply systems, partial completion of Hickam Field buildings, a power plant at Schofield Barracks, and rehabiliation of Fort Armstrong, the quartermaster depot in the centre of Honolulu.

SUGGESTED EXPENDITURE. The actual figures involved are as follows: —Building projects at Hickam Field. 7,250,000 dollars; building projects at Wheeler Field, 7,750,000 dollars; water supply and power plant systems at Schofield Barracks and Hickam Field, 1,000,000 dollars; buildings at Fort Shafter for the 64th Coast Artillery Regiment, 2,7b0,000 dollars; buildings at Schofield Barracks, 4,500,000 dollars; buildings at Fort Kruger and Fort Kamehaineha. 700,000 dollars; buildings at Fort Armstrong. 4.250,000 dollars; and the complete rebuilding of Tripier general hospital, 2,250.000 dollars. The army does not propose to extend its airport development further to the westward than the island of Kauai, General Drum said. This is not in accord with the Navy's Hawaii defence pian, as a number of non-stop flights already have been made by large groups of Naval patrol aeroplanes as far out from Honolulu, as French Frigate shoal, where conditions suitable for actual service action were found to prevail. The five-year project for defence items as proposed by the general covers several angles. In the programme is included 1,580,000 for ammunition storage, enlarging the present Aliamanu depot; 8.947,552 dollars for air fields; 1,162,719 dollars for the fire control and command system on the island of Oahu, now about half completed; 288,484 dollars for chemical warfare storage; 3,305,700 dollars for an increase in anti-aircraft weapons, and 5,049,951 dollars for sea coast defences.

In addition, a large number of the most modern aircraft are to be sent to Hawaii, the shipments increasing as fields to handle the additional machines are made ready. New tanks are also to be sent here, replacing the obsolete World War machines now on hand, which probably are to be stationed at various points about the perimeter of Oahu and utilised as “pill boxes.”