TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Hastings Standard, Issue 38, 10 June 1896, Page 2

TOPICS OF THE TIME.

Discussing in the Nineteenth Century various matters connected with the British Navy and the Empire's strategic bases of operation, Mr Arthur Silva White raises the question how, in the event of war breaking out, and the Hue/. Canal being closed to us, England could send additional troops and war supplies for the defence of the north - west frontier of India more rapidly than the invader could despatch them from his nearest base. He answers his question by declaring that as a strategic base, for imaginary purposes only, Albany, West Australia, is unrivalled in situation. Suck a base should be made capable of supplying all the sudden requirements of an army in the field until the main supplies arrived in India by way of the Cape, and it should he able to supply reinforcements during the campaign.

"Ana naval arsenal and military depot second only in importance to those of the Mother Country, this unique strategic position on an Anglo-Saxon Continent would, "he thinks," also serve as an effective base for warlike operations in the Far East. Situated on King George's Sound, with an admirable inner harbor and a good roadstead easily defended, Albany is in fact an ideal spot for supplementing the naval and military resources of the Empire." Among its many advantages in this respects are that it is backed by a wealthy continent, exclusively British and possessing a healthy climate, which it is thought would make it one of the most economical and popular depots for Imperial troops of any outside the United Kingdom. And not only the Empire in general but Australia in particular would, the writer urges, profit by the establishment of such a base at Albany.

" Such a centre of Imperial activity would, moreover, give an immense impetus to Australian manufactures

and industries, and might attract colonial recruits for her Majesty's army and navy, besides centralising and organising the defence forces of the continent." Albany, however, though it may be most favorably situated for the Imperial purposes described by the writer, is an awkward out-of-the-way corner from which to centralise and organise the Australian defence forces, and this part of the scheme is less practical than is, perhaps, the rest of it. There is, no doubt, that, owing to the readiness with which traffic in the Suez Canal can be stopped, little reliance can be placed upon it as England's highway to India in time of war, and that the longer route by the Cape would mean serious delay in reaching ail enemy, who, as Mr White suggests, would probably threaten the northwest frontier before formally declaring war. Under such circumstances the value of a well-equipped naval and military depot at Albany could hardly be overestimated. But the establishment of such a base would be a big affair, and we hardly look to its being done yet.

Candjn'al Yai'CtHax has communicated an appeal by the English, Irish, and American Cardinals, urging the establishment of a permanent tribunal of arbitration as a rational substitute among English -speaking races for a resort to war in cases of dispute. The appeal contains the following passage: "We are well aware - that such a project is beset with practical difficulties. We believe that they will not prove to be insuperable if the desire to overcome them be genuine and general. Such a Court existed for centuries, when the nations of Christendom were united in one faith. And have we notseen nations appeal to that same Court for its judgment in our own day. The establishment of a permanent tribunal, composed, may be, of trusted representatives of each sovereign nation, with power to nominate judges and umpires according to the nature of the differences that arise, and a common acceptance of general principles delining and limiting the jurisdiction and subject matter of such a tribunal, would create now guarantees for peace that could not fail to influence the whole of Christendom. Such an international court of arbitration would form a second line of defence, to b(i called into requisition only after the ordinary resources of diplomacy has been exhausted. It would at least postpone the outbreak of hostilities until reason and common sense had formally pronounced their last word." The appeal is signed by Cardinal (Jibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore and Cardinal Logue, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, as well as by the Archbishop of Westminister.