NAVAL BASES IN THE PACIFIC

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13169, 1 September 1913, Page 9

NAVAL BASES IN THE PACIFIC

It is understood that the report of the inspecting engineers as to the practicability of converting the harbor of Greater Vancouver into a naval base has been considered favorably by the Admiralty and the Canadian authorities, and that action will almost immediately be taken m the matter, as the great increase of snipping which is expected to take place at that centre when the Panama Canal is opened renders it desirable that it should be adequately protected. There is already a base at Esquimault. As the result of a report by Admiral Henderson a base for the Australian Fleet is to be established at Cockburn Sound, a little to the south of Fremantle. It is, indeed, believed that the Sound will become the first port m the Commonwealth, for, when the sandbanks are removed from tho entrance, accommodation can easily be provided for a hundred of the largest ocean-going steamers and as many warships. The present average depth! of water is 36ft, which, of course, will be increased by dredging. Slips are to bo ilaid down for shipbuilding, while coal jand oil depots, a naval arsenal, as well as foundries and workshops, are to bo provided. As Fremantle will be one of the terminals of the new trans-Continen-tal railway, the situation has been well chosen. A sub-base is, moreover, to be created at Albany, on the south coast of Western Australia. j