SINGAPORE BASE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 23 October 1930, Page 6

SINGAPORE BASE.

AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE. LONDON, Wednesday. Tlie importance of the Singapore base, especially in view of tlio recent indication of the resumption of work' upon it, was emphasised and re-empha-sised at the Navy League dinner, at which the Lord Mayor presided. Prince George was amongst those present at a notable assemblage, which included Sir Granville Ryri© and Lady Dyrie and Sir T. M. Wilford. Prince George, proposing the toast of “Nelson,” which was drunk in silence, on the anniversary of his death, sketched the Navy’s important peace-time duties, including the suppression of piracy, “the oldest, and most exciting of aquatic sports. ’ ’ Lord Lloyd, proposing “The Dominions,” said that if the rumours that Singapore was being proceeded with were -correct, the decision would give the greatest satisfaction in Autsralia, New Zealand and Malaya.

“We are bitterly discouraged because there is no Army or Air Force representative attending the Imperial -Conference to represent our defensive needs,” said Lord Lloyd. “The Conference is developing trade, and trade, is utterly dependent on the Navy for security. We are pledged to foreign powers for the first time -since Nelson won us the mastery of the seas, and are not at liberty _ to build the ships necessary for our safety. Wo must have power |to insist that there must be peace.” -Sir Granville Eyrie said: “We Australians feel so strongly about Singapore that I am justified in saying emphatically and deliberately that if the base is not proceeded with, we will be placed in a most awkward predicament. If trouble occurred in the Pacific, or the Suez Canal was blocked, it would tako six weeks for the Navy to come to protect Australia, which delay might bo Vital.” Sir Granville paid a warm tribute to Mr J. H. Scullin’s utterances in his initial speech, which was by far the best of any of the Dominion representatives, making it clear what Australia wanted and should get. Why could not Mr J. H. Thomas and others speak out? All this wobbling, quibbling, and talking in an uncertain voice round and round the subject is no good at all,” said Sir Granville. “Why not say: ‘We will give you this or we will not give you that’?” He supported Mr Scullin’s declaration that Australia would not repudiate her debts and advised investment in Australian stocks while they were low-priced. He said Britannia, through people like Kingsford Smith and Amy Johnson, would rule the air as hitherto she had ruled the waves.

Speaking of the importance of Singapore, Sir Thomas Wilford said: “If the Government does not proceed with Singapore this year, we of New Zealand will consider we have been abandoned. It is a throttle valve and insurance.” Mr Wakatsuki had -said at a conference that the erection of a base at Singapore was a menace to Japan. “That,” Sir T. Wilford declared, “is fudge. (Applause.) It is the Alpha and Omega of our defence. Japan wants Singapore if Britain does not. I found when I was visiting there that Japanese owners —I do not say the Japanese Government —possessed y ten thousand acres round our wireless station. Japanese capitalists were holding ten thousand acres on the plateau overlooking ouF base. The Japanese own the only iron field in Malaya. To say, as Mr Wakatsuki said, that the building of a base at Singapore, which is three thousand miles from Japan, is building at Japan’s gates, is tantamount to saying that a naval base at Plymouth would threaten Boston, which is three thousand miles away.”