SINGAPORE BASE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19140, 25 October 1927, Page 14

SINGAPORE BASE.

PROGRESS OF WORK. HUGE OIL TANKS. (FROM OUR OWS CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, October 1-i. To New Zealanders, who, through their Government, have bound themselves to lend extensive financial aid to Britain in the construction of the Signapore naval base, any news concerning the progress of the work thero should be of interest. Sir William Sdwden, a leading citizen of Adelaide, returned recently from a visit to Singapore enthusiastio concerning the excellent progress being made with the construction of what he calls "part of the first line of defence for Australia and New Zealand."

Sir William Sowden said that the feeling of the white population in Singapore was highly appreciative oi New Zealand's help, but it believed that Australia should do more towards the defrayment of the cost of the undertaking. Thousands of men, he said, wero employed at tho base, where large , buildings had been erected for European officers. Expenditure on an enormous scale was being made on roads and railways, and the construction of 70 of a total of 80 oil tanks for liquid fuel had been completed. Each of these tanks would hold 15,000 tons of oil, which would be readily accessible to' vessels requiring refueling. The fact that this huge store of inflammable oil might be open to attack from the'air had aroused some misgivings in Singapore, but the authorities had in mind the preparation of formidable measures of aerial defence.

The base, continued Sir William Sowden, was situated east of a new causeway connecting the island of Johore with the mainland. Strangely enough, the white population in the neighbourhood had accepted the project quietly, even apathetically, although there was an underlying feeling that the base would secure the future security of the country.