PEACE IN PACIFIC

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22152, 25 September 1943, Page 5

PEACE IN PACIFIC

ACQUISITION OF BASES (Received Sept. 25, 11.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 “A powerful United States Navy in the Pacific will constitute the most potent argument for preserving the peace in that area,” said Mr Magnusson, chairman of the special Naval Sub-committee of the House of Representatives, in calling for the permanent acquisition of sea and air island bases in order to make the United States Navy an effective after-war policeman of the Pacific. He added that his committee would consult the State Department officials and subsequently the Secretary to the Navy, Colonel Knox, to ascertain what additional Pacific bases are required and what Congress must do to acquire them. “We are not building the largest navy in the world just to sink it after the war and we are not building it to keep it chained to the shores of this country to rust after vetory,” he said. “So in order to keep the Navy afloat we have just got to have bases. Why, we have so many ships now that we could not get them all into the continental harbours.” Mr Barry has submitted to the House of Representatives a resolution urging a Pacific Charter similar to the Atlantic Charter. He suggests that a congressional committee be directed to study and determine upon the principles and policies which should be observed in order to assure the peoples of the Pacific area the greatest possible measure of peace, freedom and security in the future.