NEW NAVAL BASE

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 24

NEW NAVAL BASE

THE BERMUDA ISLANDS. LONDON, August 5. ! The American statement that Britain contemplates establishing a great naval j base in the Bermudas its an exaggeration. During the naval pressure in Europe ' the number of vessels wae temporarily reduced, but the Admiralty now proposes to station four cruisers of the County class in the West Indies during the winter months, which is a smaller force than was i based there in earlier years. ' Some New York correspondents declare that the American story is twaddle, and they point out that there was. a naval station in the Bermuda Islands even before the Monroe doctrine.

| WASHINGTON, August 6. 1 It is reported that Britain hae informed

the United States that she is re-establish-ing the naval station in the Bermuda Islands for the repair and care of the ships employed in those waters. Sir G. Bullock (Governor of the Bermuda Islands) declares that the assertion that a large naval base is being established is purely imaginative. Possibly a coaling depot might be established. The idea that England and the United States should quarrel over the matter was ridiculous.