BASE AT SINGAPORE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18963, 10 March 1925, Page 9

BASE AT SINGAPORE.

GRAVING DOCK QUESTION. CONSTRUCTION POSTPONED. ATTITUDE OF THE ADMIRALTY. Telegraph Press Association—Copyright. (Received 8.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Mar. 8. In connection with the announcement that the Admiralty was sending out. a huge floating dock to Singapore, the question arises whether this does not supplant the idea of building a graving dock. The Lord President of the Council, i Marquess Curzon, made the significant an--1 nouncement in the House of Lords on March 4 that the construction of a graving dock had so far not been decided upon. The possibility that it will not be built in the. near future is .strengthened by his statement that, the Estimates for the next three years will provide only £OOO,OOO for the Singapore base. This sum would be a mere bagatelle toward the permanent works, which are to cost £10,000,030 It is understood that the Admiralty is influenced by the fact that the reduced number of large ships under the Washington Treaty, only a portion of which are likely to be stationed in the Pacific, could be adequately handled by a floating dock. This would be available in a few months compared with the nine years required to complete a graving dock. The present trend of opinion recalls the previous discussion by naval architects, and the decision of the War Office to station a white garrison at Singapore recalls the unpleasant mutiny during the war of the Indian troop 3 who were stationed there. CENTRE OF GRAVITY. SHIFTING TO THE PACIFIC. PROTECTION OF COMMERCE. LONDON. Feb. 2G. The Standard's naval correspondent, directing attention to the Singapore Conference of the three Pacific naval com-manders-in-chief, declares: "The civilised world's centre of naval gravity is slowly shifting to the Pacific. The Imperial Eastern fleet must ultimately be the joint product of Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and India, cxch maintaining an individual fleet, all of them coalescing into one strategic unit, in time of need. "This is unobtainable at present, as the taxable populations of the Dominions are too small to bear the burden of a capital expenditure amounting to £200,000,000 for a fleet composed of two battle squadrons and one battle-cruiser squadron with their attendant ships. "Meanwhile the British squadrons on the East Indies and China stations are being strengthened. New cruisers arc replacing the old ones, which were designed for service in tho North Sea, and arc unsuitable, for long, open-ocean patrols. The new cruisers will embody the war-time lessons and be fast craft, able to keep at sffa for long periods and hunt commerce destroyers. The latest type of (ho Kent class, to which Australia's projected two new cruisers will belong, possess theso qualities in tho highest degree." Tho Standard points out that hostile capital ships in the Pacific would quadruple the dangers to Britain's sea-borne commerce, enabling raiders to work under the protection of big guns, and not be merely hunted fugitives like the Emden and Karlsruhe were. "The British Eastern Fleet must, sooner or later," adds the paper, "includo a battle squadron." ADMIRALS' CONFERENCE GATHERING IN FAR EAST. Sun. SINGAPORE. Mar. 1, Singapore finds itself a naval centre. Yesterday tho harbour was bare beyond tho mercantile fleet; now a line of 16 grey warships catch tho morning light. The town is full of sailors, among whom may bo noticed a number of Australians. Tho biggest ship is Vice-Admiral Sir Allan Everett's flagship, 11. M.S. Hawkins, which divides the interest- of Singaport with H.M.A.S. Sydney, which has associations with the city because she sank the Emden. The latter took a heavy toll of tho Singapore trade, and menaced tho Colombo route. Other ships in the port include the Durban, Bluebell, Ambrosa, Brisbane, Chatham, Adelaide and Concord. The warships have been cruising slowly, doubtless in order to make a dramatic appearance all in one day. Their simultaneous arrival from all parts of the ocean, in connection with the admirals' conference, was certainly rather like magic. There is great bustle on the wharves this morning. Admirals and officers dart out in motor-cars, petty officers hire rickshaws, and the men roll on foot in fours. Singapore has overnight become a British seaport town tenanted by a largo number of Chinese, Malays and others. Heretofore it gave one the impression of a Chinese town with a few white- settlors. Thus the sailors make their presence felt. The Admiralty has been at great, pains to warn the public that, the conference has nothing to do with the base project, which is a matter of policy for Ministers in London; but it is hardly' likely that details of the base will not be discussed. It is also stated that tho base conference. is not directed against Japan, but there is excellent roaron to believe that the admirals arc fully aware of the trend of Japanese strategy toward the Pacific, and doubtless this, too, will bo fully discussed. At all events naval men hero are not enthusiastic al out our late, ally's aims at naval* supremacy in tho East. Good brains are watching the moves keenly. It is remembered that only,one nation is building a huge fleet of com-merce-raiders in the East, and the Entente with Russia is also noted. If the admirals do not discuss this aspect of the naval position in the Pacific, informed opinion here is sadly out. However, it rooms perfectly certain that nothing will leak out, and that if it does (ho administration wil promptly stop its publication. During tho last conference, in 1919, the papers were actually requested not to mention that tho admirals were present, at Singapore. This time the authorities will hardly go so far, but journalists turn a gloomy eye on the conference as hopeless.