AUSTRALIAN TROOPS IN MALAYA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 43, 20 February 1941, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN TROOPS IN MALAYA

LAND AT SINGAPORE ; i LARGEST ONE-CONVOY FORCE SO FAR SECRET DESTINATIONS ! IBy Telegraph -Frew Association*-(x»vyrightl j Received Feb. 19. 8.20 p.m. SINGAPORE. Feb. 19. Australian troops, for the first time, landed at .Singapore to-day Io take, tip positions in the Far East. They entrained immediately for secret destinations. The Malaya contingent is the largest force, of men ever to arrive in Malaya in a single convoy. Among those who welcomed the Australian troops was Admiral Geoffrey Layton, Commander-In-Chief of the China Station. He said the safe arrival of these strong reinforcements was yet another demonstration of the power given by the British command of the sea, enabling her to station forces in areas where they were most needed, and also a clear indication of the growing strength of the Empire's forces, WASHINGTON (Tuesday).— Congressional naval experts state that the Administration’s decision to construct the 8,009,000-dollar naval and air base in Samoa was intended to guarantee against a surprise approach to Hawaii and the Panama Canal by the south Pacific. He said also that it had implications in the United States Far Eastern diplomacy. The United States desired to show Japan a completely altered public sentiment regarding naval policy in the Pacific. The American Associated Press Saigon (French Indo-China) correspondent says Japanese naval forces in the Gulf of Siam have been heavily increased in the last 12 hours by units from Formosa. Three cruisers f.ere previously reported in the gulf.