THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1926. THE SIGNAPORE BASE.

Wairarapa Age, 7 January 1926, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1926. THE SIGNAPORE BASE.

The British Admiralty is calling for tenders for the first big contract for the 50,000 ton floating dock at Singa* pore naval base. Thus within a year, naval policy in this respect has been reversed, and see the unwanted £.100,000 contribution wh-eli New Zealand voted towards this work replaced on our Estimates. The reasons for developing Singapore in the interests of British naval power in the East are well understood in New Zealand, but one pliase of the question is possibly not so clear, ’to Australians and New Zealanders, the Japanese navy and the extra-territorial aspirations of that country take on a somewhat threatening aspect, but to the Homeland observer •’his is not so strongly appreciated. On the contrary, it is the deliberate opinion of English naval authorities that the Japanese navy is designed wholly for defensive purposes, and that it could not carry out such a long-distance raid as would cause trouble to our Australian neighbours. Singapore, too, is no threat to the Japanese, though the Admiralty’s pirns there ftave been utilised for naval extension propaganda in Japan. Mr Hector Bywater, recently in "The Nineteenth Century and After,” declared regarding Singapore: "This place is much too remote ever to serve as a base for aggressive operations against Japan. Her nearest territory, Formosa, which is 1550 miles distant from Singapore, might be reached in three days by a battleship steaming all the way at full speed. But battleships do not travel unescorted in. war and the actual time occupied by a fleet steaming from Singapore to Formosa would be nearer five days than three. Clearly, therefore, the base at Singapore cannot be a source of anxiety to intelligent Japanese This opinion is calculated to give satisfaction to New Zealanders who are not anxious to participate iq any aggressive movement in the Pacific, but are determined to do all in their power to safeguard the position of their race in that important sphere.