THE HAWAIIAN BASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 256, 26 September 1940, Page 6

THE HAWAIIAN BASE.

With major defence schemes projected by the United States in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans the natural advantages of Hawaii, and particularly Pearl Harbour, have become of much greater importance, and the facilities for a gigantic naval and air base there are likely to be extended on an immense scale in the near future. The Secretary for the Navy (Colonel Knox), who has just completed a tour in that quarter, emdsages HaAvaii as one of the great military bastions of the world, and under the huge votes approved by Congress for defence extensions there may be created in this pleasant spot in the Pacific an establishment the parallel of Singapore and the other immense strong points better knoAvn to the British Empire. It is just over twenty years since the first steps were taken to make Pearl Harbour a naval depot and steadily it has grown in importance ; few of those avlio witnessed the organisation of Hawaii as a territory in 1900 could have envisaged the colossal part it is to play as a bulwark of the United States now.. The broad plans of the United States Naval Board and other defence services propose, for the Pacific, a triangular scheme with the points based on the mainland, Hawaii and Alaska. For long the question of Avhether the nation should provide a tivoocean navy has obtruded in the strategical plans, but as a result of the great appropriations for the building of warships it will be possible to organise and maintain a fleet for operations in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. As to the capacity of Hawaii to accommodate a much larger con-, gregation of vessels, Colonel Knox has drawn attention to the fact that Pearl Harbour alone, is capable of holding a fleet tAyice the size of the present United States Fleet. To New Zealand and Australia the development of this bulwark by their American friends is of considerable interest, because it is designed for the same purpose as the British Empire’s naval strength—the preservation of freedom on the seas and resistance to those who threaten peaceful nations.