THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1924. NAVAL DEFENCE.

Wairarapa Age, 9 May 1924, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, MAY 9, 1924. NAVAL DEFENCE.

In his remarks on the Singapore question Admiral Field, commanding the Imperial Squadron, shows a good deal more commonsenso than the average New Zealand politician who has discussed the question. And after all it is a question that must be solved by commonsense methods. If a majority of the people of Great Britain do not believe that Singapore matters so vitally to the security of Britain, how can we expect their representatives to spend £20,000,000 of their money to defend us? We must educate them. The beet way to do this is to show by the sacrifices that we ourselves are willing to make that wo really believe Singapore to be vital to us. When we arc spending as much per head on naval defence as our brothers in England are then we can pul the question to them with a great deal more force. Admiral Field does not believe in weeping too many tears over Singapore. The defence of the Empire’s trade requires cruisers, and he urges New Zealand not to cry too much because Singapore is not being proceeded with, . but to add another cruiser to her division so that it may be effective in the defence of commerce and able to co-operate and exchange with the ships of the Royal Navy itself. That is sound horse sense. New Zealand is a maritime country, quite as much as Britain is. The New Zealand people are instinctive seamen. Why hot, then, develop our own resources and make, ourselves efficient at sea so that, wo can play our own part in defending ourselves instead of depending entirely on the British Navy# That is the commonsense thing to do. When we have done that there will bp ample time to ask Britain to spend her money in collaboration with us on larger projects of general importance. Singapore is • not abandoned by any moans. It is a pivot of Empire defence in time of war, but this is obviously not the time to expect-the senior partner—Britain—to shoulder such a financial burden. We must, therefore, develop our own centres of power to the best of our ability.