NEW BASES SOUGHT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20184, 29 February 1940, Page 5

NEW BASES SOUGHT

ISLANDS SUGGESTED PURCHASE PROPOSALS (Reed. Feb. 29, 10 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 28. The first move to acquire bases to defend the Panama-Canal are being taken with the early introduction by Representative -Case of a bill authorising the State Department to “negotiate for islands west and east of the canal and other territory owned by non-American powers.” The bill provides for the purchase of land with gold or partly as payment in respect to defaulted debts. The army is believed to be seeking the Lesser Antilles for an air base similar to the base at present being built on the island of Porto Rico. A member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the United States House of Representatives, Mr. James A. Shanley, in the course of a speech, on February 24, predicted _ that the United States w'ould ask Britain for possession of the islands east of the Panama Canal and Ecuador for possession of the Galapagos group. He said: “We are getting stronger defences for these islands to protect the Canal.”

ROOSEVELT’S INSPECTION (Reed. Feb. 29, 9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Feb. 27. A message from Balboa, in the Panama Canal zone, states that President Roosevelt to-day inspected the Pacific defences of the Panama Canal and conferred with the President of Panama, Senor A. Boyd, Panama military and naval commanders, and also viewed the progress of work on the air-field costing £5,750,000. President Roosevelt is returning to an undisclosed United States port.