OPEN TO ATTACK

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11737, 26 January 1924, Page 5

OPEN TO ATTACK

THE PANAMA CANAL THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS NEEDED FOR DEFENCES. OR DESTRUCTION ASSURED. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received January 25, 9.20 p.m.) NEW YORK, January 24. The “New York Times” Colon correspondent says that the board of Naval and' Army Umpires, following four days" manoeuvres off the Panama Canal by the Atlantic and Pacific fleets which were divided into so-called “enemy” and “defending” armadas, decided that the Canal was extremely vulnerable to attack, and unless 30,000, 000 dollars was provided for defences, the United States would be unable to save this important thoroughfare from easy destruction by an enemy power in time of war. The manoeuvres, which were the most extensive in American history, were a mimic v.ar, wherein the army, land defences, air force, and every branch of the navy participated. The Board, moreover, indicated that the_ dreadnought had demonstrated active usefulness, the manoeuvres showing that while fast destroyers and submarines and air planes were indispensable, the important unit of modern sea power remains indisputably the dreadnought.