SINGAPORE BASE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12866, 21 May 1936, Page 5

SINGAPORE BASE

UN Ir APP.Y disclosures

OIL SUPPLY MAY HE LIMITED

TANK'S BUILT ABOVE GROUND!

‘•U R.A. by Elec. Tc-I. Copy^ght). (Received May 21, 1 a.in A LONDON. May 20. The ’Daily Telegraph's naval correspondent says that the Rajah of Sarawak’s disclosure that the oilfields in his territory may drv tip in ten years creates rj' problem for the Singapore naval authorities. The odfields -are the second largest# in the Empire and the main source of supply of BriUsh warships. A Oj ther disclosure states that the od tanks at Singapore base arc above ground and, therefore, vulnerners.ble to air attack. This is equall 9 disturbing. There is little excuse for above-ground storage- at Singapore, as tlio work h-as bec-n completed in the past ten years, when it was generally considered only elementary precautions were necessary.

The building of subterranean od reservoirs was all important at naval and the matter demands rut immediate searching inquiry. C the Rajah of Sarawak’s * wells dry up. Britam will have to depend upon the Dutch East Indies, which may raise a difficulty.