SINGAPORE BASE

Grey River Argus, 24 June 1925, Page 5

SINGAPORE BASE

AN ADVOCATE’S VIEWS. (Received June. 23 at 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, June 23. Vaughan Cornish, in a paper on “Singapore and Naval Geography,” presented to the Royal Colonial Institute, on Tuesday afternoon, points out that it is in North America and Australia that her national status is a practical question for Japan, and it is mainly in the Mo'iisoon region of Asia including India, China and Japan, /hat the problem of achieving harmeny of “cohmr” confronts the British Empire. After technically surveying the British Empire’s strategical sea routes, Mr Cornish says: ‘One great remediable gap is at the passages to the Indian Ocean, between the East Indian Islands. ” He therefore claims thaat Singapore is of paramount importance. “It is,’ ’he says, “the British Navy’s •jew Eastern capital. It is the meeting place of the maritime ways from the north-west, north-east and south-west. It is also a haven on the airways and is really a necessary aerodrome between India and Australia. The word “Singapore’’ has come to have associations with the White Australian policy, which is described, not in a critical spirit, as an effort to prevent the congested Asiatic populations colonising Australia’s empty lands. Actually *t does not do so, because the Asiatic coolie has empty lands at his ow»n country’s doors. A naval base at Singapore will ensure Britain’s voice being heard in the .settlement of .affairs in China. The view that the naval project there is provocative ignores an essential fact, that unless communications across the Indian Ocean are secured, a united British Empire can only continue by the stiff rance of foreign powers.”