THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1926. EMPIRE DEFENCES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19965, 6 December 1926, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1926. EMPIRE DEFENCES.

It might have been supposed that the disturbed condition of affairs in China at the present time would itself have been sufficient to : disabuse tlie Japanese press of the curious and unfounded notion that the establishment of a naval base in Singapore is a step that is directed solely against Japan. The position in China simply serves to emphasise the view, which is generally accepted, that whenever, if at any time, another severe conflict should' occur it will be the Pacific Ocean that will be the stormcentre. Another European explosion of grave magnitude is unthinkable at the present time. A hunded years elapsed between the last world-war and that which preceded it, and the European countries that were engaged in the conflagration "which was started in 1914 now recognise that their interests are vitally bound up in a policy of peaceful co-operation. The prospect of hostilities anywhere in which the Britian Empire may become involved is not one that any, British statesman could regard without the! greatest- possible aversion. The supreme concern of the Empire is the maintenance of peace, and of her devotion to that cause '.the Government in the Mother Country has afforded the most signal proof, both in the practical steps it has taken in the direction of disarmament and in the warm support it has given to the League of Nations. But the possibility of war cannot yet te wholly excluded. No nation can afford to take the risk of being unprepared to face the contingency of war. Least of all can Great Britain, the principal partner in an Empire which is scattered throughout the seven seas and a country which derives a large portion of her food supplies from the uttermost ends of the earth. And it is impossible to foretell what the future may have in store in the Far East, as it is called, which for Australia and New Zealand is the Near West. No suspicion of the good faith or of the friendly intentions of Japan is necessarily involved in the decision of the British Government that it must possess at some convenient spot in the Pacific a station upon which her warships patrolling the trade routes may be based. The explanation of the need of a naval base in Singapore was supplied in the fewest possible words by Mr Stanley Baldwin in his contribution to the discussion at the Imperial Conference on the subject of Imperial defence. That discussion was, as was indicated at the time it took place, so very frank in its character that it was deemed inadvisable to issue a report of it, and it was only last week that a precis of it was made available for publication. “The Government had come to the conclusion,” Mr Baldwin said, with reference to the Singapore base, “that it was vital to the security of the Empire that this scheme should be proceeded with, because it was essential that the fleet should have full freedom of movement throughout the Empire.” It is purely for defensive and protective purposes that the base is required. The, Empire has no aggressive designs. But it is justly concerned that its own security shall be preserved and that it shall not be exposed to the danger of attack upon its territory and its trade against which, in the absence of a Pacific naval base, it might be indifferently able to defend itself.