PEACE IN THE FAR EAST

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1930, Page 9

PEACE IN THE FAR EAST

AGREEMENT FOR SINGAPORE BASE NEEDED FOR OLD SHIPS LABOUR POLICY PUZZLES By Telegraph—Presa Assn.—Copyright. London, May 3. “It is difficult, to follow the argument prevalent in Government quarters that there is no need to proceed steadily with the Singapore base, owing to the holiday in-the building of ships,” says the naval correspondent of the Morning Post. “Singapore is not being developed primarily as a 'battleship base, but for cruisers, though it includes a battleship graving dock. The ships we shall be able to maintain, till' 1940 at the earliest, must be old, requiring more docking and repairing than newer ones, thus the capital ship holiday makes Singapore more necessary than ever after March, 1931. “The sum of £4,807,000 will be required to complete the base. Of that amount the Malay States and New Zealand find £1,290,000. Surely £3.500,000, payable by Britain, spread over many years, is not too high an insurance, seeing that, the aggregate value of ships and cargoes in any single day on Eastern and Australian waters is over £150,000,000. The Singapore base is a necessity that threatens nobody. Several most powerful nations agreed that British naval strength, based on Singapore, would be the greatest influence for maintaining peace in the Far East.”