CAPE ROUTE TO BE DEFENDED

Southland Times, Issue 23406, 13 January 1938, Page 6

CAPE ROUTE TO BE DEFENDED

Naval Base At Sierra

Leone FORTIFICATION OF CAPE TOWN (United Press Assn.—Telegraph Copyright) (Received January 12, 7.50 p.m.) LONDON, January 12. The naval correspondent of The Daily Herald says that Britain is putting the historic Cape route in a state of defence as an answer to the probable closing of the Suez Canal in a time of emergency and also because it is important, in view of German interests in the Azores (Portuguese) and the Canaries (Spanish) to have a bigger base on the African coast.. The scheme accordingly involves making Freetown (Sierra Leone) into an important naval base, in addition to the development of Cape Town, where reconstruction of the harbour, to cost £15,000,000, extensive fortifications and the mounting of 15in guns have begun.

The chief naval bases of the British Empire are:— _ , _ . ENGLAND: Portsmouth, Devonport, Portland, Dover. SCOTLAND: Rosyth and Scapa Flow. GIBRALTAR: Extreme south of Spain (1704, captured by British): guards entrance to Mediterranean; heavily fortified; nine miles across Strait. MALTA: South of Sicily, MEDITERRANEAN Sea; capital, Valetta. ADEN: Southwest Arabia; entrance to Red Sea; coaling; trading. TRINCOMALI: Northeast of Ceylon; good harbour. SINGAPORE: South of Malay Peninsula; strong, fortified station, recently completed; now main station on East route; large shipping port. MAURITIUS: Five hundred miles east of Madagascar; capital, Port Louis; on India and South Africa route; sugar plantations. ST. HELENA: South Atlantic; port, Jamestown; Napoleon imprisoned (1815-1821). ASCENSION: Seven hundred and sixty miles from St. Helena.

BERMUDA: Six hundred miles east of South Carolina.

CASTRIES: Windward Island, north of Venezuela; capital, St. Lucia; mostly French spoken. HONG KONG: Mouth of Canton river; large, busy port, rather dangerously situated now.

CANADA: Esquimault; Vancouver Island; Halifax; Nova Scotia. AUSTRALIA: Royal Australian Navy; Port Jackson. ' AFRICA: Simonstown, on Simon’s Bay. NEW ZEALAND: Devonport, Auckland.