Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1925. THE AMERICAN FLEET.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 14 July 1925, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED OVER 50 YEARS.] TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1925. THE AMERICAN FLEET.

Before very long the American fleet -will be in New Zealand waters. To British eyes, the despatch of such a force to -a distance some four weeks ,trom its base is an enterprise not without a certain amount of diplomatic risk. Great numbers of people are asking what this mighty naval exercise may signify. Is it a signal, and of what import? The Americans may say that their manoeuvres are not to be judged by European standards; that their coasts are washed by the greatest ocean in the world; that their navy is built to assert national strength in that ocean, if anywhere; and that the very taking of the “risk” above-mentioned shows a genuine peaceful attitude. The United States’ naval strategy in the Pacific is founded upon operations from Hawaii as an advance base. That being the case, these manoeuvres fall within the scope of peace-time exercises as practised bv all naval Powers, only with their scale (as compared with Europe) in proportion to stretch of seas and distance between bases. Yet an intriguing element of risk remains, and it is impossible to overlook the coincidence of the visit to this country with the outbreak of serious trouble in China. That is, of course, an accident of events. If the American visit were cancelled because of the Chinese trouble, the whole world’s Chancelleries might be set agog. The cruise is to be judged, as an incident, by this measure. Isolated, it is an evidence of nothing but confidence and goodwill. There is another aspect of it as one of several signs of American policy. Gone are the days, belonging to the pre-war period, when the United States seriously considered abandonment of the Philippine Islands as a “foreign entanglement.”