BRITAIN'S BULWARK AGAINST JAPAN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 184, 21 August 1937, Page 15

BRITAIN'S BULWARK AGAINST JAPAN

How England's Fifty-Million-Pound Naval Base at Singapore Rose Out of a jungle to Become the Protector of Australia and New Zealand Against Oriental Threats So fa.r as the British Empire is concerned tlie pivot o£ power-diplomacy in tlie Paciific Ocean is the Singapore Ba,se. On this mighty fortress beguii in a noisome and steamy jungle of swamps and pests more than £10,000,000 has already been spent. In this strategic key point of the whole Imperial system Australia and NeW Zealand, with their annual overseas trade of more than £200,000,000, have aii es pecial interest, In tlie following article Ignatius Phayre, wrlting in "Ourrent History'' sets dbwn his impressions gathefed during a visit to the East Indies and to "this aniazinflr liive of defensive war."

-pNOBMOUS AUSTKALIA, ncarij As big as the United States, yet with only New York's population, oifers a tempting bait to poor and populous J apan. So does Oanada,_ as a sub-Contluent of limitless wcalth, though it has no more people in it than Greater London. The South African Union, too, is very nefvoUs. Oswald Pirow, its Minister of DefehcO, finds even the Goldea Band neoessible to heavy bombm's of to-day. "We do not possess a lainglo warship," Jan Smuts told his people, "which could ward off fast 'carriers' that house whole Bquadrona of destructxve aircraft. people "which coulcP ward off fast 'carriers' that house wholo Squadrons of destruetive air' craft. ' ' Sensitive Japan, as we all know, has "many • WOunds to lick, from California's Exclusion Laws.to the brusque. abrogation of the British Alliance of 1902. To-day her fighting Servicea dictate to the civil power under the cloak of ensuring "the peace of East Asia," Hirohito's armed forces in all three elements have long been in that state which the Germans call Kriegsluetem, or "spoillng for war." Theli' dafing plan, according to Lotd Strabolgi, him' self an ex-Naval of&cer who held higb sea commands during the World War, has five phases. No, 1 was the seizure of all Manchuria. The second aims to annex Shanghai, Nanking a'nd the Yangtse Valley. Next is the occupation of Canton and its littoral, After that comes tho wresting of Indo-Ohina from the Erenoh. "And the fifth will be the conquest of India!" J&paii's Dcmands. Add to all this the cock'crowings of Japa' ^ nese officers like Commandor Tota Ishimarut and one grasps what the defensive bulwark at Singapore means to the hugeet Empire in hu' man annals. That bellicose seaman calls his book; "Japan Muist Fight Btitain!" He finds war inevitable. The Downing Street Cabinet yields to every demand J removal of all barriers to Japan ^s devastating trade; fre& admission of veilOW micrrants to all toarts of the Emmra*

That day we heard significant news from officers of the cruisers Java and Sumatra. Oilfields and munition dumps in Dutch Borneo had been heavily mined, so as to prevent their capture in case of an "undeelared" war, such as - the new Wehrwissenechaft that Hitler, Goring, and Yon Blomberg have envisaged. "If in the hour of trial," the Dutch Commander-in-Chief told us, "Holland can rely on this wondrous Singapore, then you of Britain can make all the use you want of our base in Souribaya." Singapore Island has been wrouglit in silence into a "Gibraltar" zone without a parallel east of Suez. Twcnty miles long and fifteen broad^ it lies at the tip-of the Malay Peninsula and commands the only direct sea lane between two great oceanic regions. Alternative routes between the North Pacifie and Indian Ocean are either too long and "round-about" from the naval point of view, or pas>s through a maze of islets where hiddon foes could cripple a modern armada fleet. Wby England Wants Its Base. It is fourteen years since the British Government decided to locate here a docking and repair-station for its Pacifie Pleet. The ancient trade with China felt new perils; so did millions of pounds' worth of property in China itself. Other cares were sensed in the great port of Hongkong, in huge Borneo with its pre- * cious oil wells, New Guinea and its gold-mines; above all, the "empty" continent of Australia with Tasmania and New Zealand. Any threat to these would bring British warships into action; an upset of balance in the Philippines or the Dutch East Indies must be viewed as "a matter of deep concern" to the Poreign Office in Downing Street. , Therefore every device was called into play lo make this station impregnable. Between the island and mainland runs a strait which is erossed near the centre by a stone causeway connecting Singapore Islan'd with the town of Johore just opposite. .Five miles of coast i« allotted to tlie Naval Base itself. Beside its sca-wall, tlie largest merchant vessels can berth and be served by adjacent warehouses. What with islets. shallows and " bottle-necks, " this new seaT-stronghold of the East has features of high interest for all scientific soldiers, sailors. and airmcn. Of course, it is in the main a"secret.

place" and its epy scares would pack a volume with thrills. The case of Y. Nishimura, who dropped dead while being questioued by the - police, is oue of the most mysterious of the Far East. This man was president of the locul J&panSse Society, and had many furtive callcrs of his own rabe, Whether Nishimura '$ tragic end was a patriotic act of seppelou( or Coifdestruction, may never be known. That thia giant woi'k in Singapore has wounded Japan 's pride is a political fact woll known to Sir Samuel Hoare at the Admiral ty, and to his brilliant young colleague, Anthony Eden, at the Foreign Office further down White' hall. The enormous dry-dock,f with its massive gates, as well as the huge fioating dock that was towed out from England to Singapore — 8000 miles, and a notable feat of seamanship-y are now functioning. Auxiliary to these are new works at Port Darwin in Northern Australia, and also at Trincomali, a superb harbour on the east coast of Ceylon, Along the sea-wall tower steel cranes that can lif t the boilers or monster guns out of a battleship as eaBily as a child can pluck plums out of a pudding, Here also are dredgers and power-stations, houses. offices, . and stores. Slowly, but eurely, systems of defence have' been developed by land and sea and air; tho whole co-ordinated under the best brains which a forewarned Britain can Select for the "Day pf Wrath" which is BOen unescapably ahead. The Empire Opena Its Purse, Yet who "would believe that this ultramodern fortress was once a wilderness oi man' grove swamps and tropic junglos whioh had first to be drained, cleared, and reolaimed? This went on for years before any constr&ctive work was possible. The aged Sultan of Selangor joined his three brother princes of the Federated Malay States 'in subscribing £2,000,000 towards the initial oost. Then last year His Highness of Johore gave a further £500,000 to hurry oii defences that are unlike any others. New Zca'

land promiaed £1,000,000; even Hong Kong contributed to a defensive focus that may relegate this China base to a minor place. Civil engineers of the Admiralty drew audacious- plans which the firm of Sir John Jackson, Ltd., carried out, well knowing the base to be a vital factor in Britain 's strategic system for the Pacifie. At the close of the main contract last March, a cheek for 20,000^000 dollars was handed over to Jackson 's. The docks are all of cement and granite. Much of this last came from Johore, but still more from Aberdeen, where it was chiselled by Scots' experts at points where the caisson of the grav-ing-dock has to be slipped exactly into its place, The Naval and Air bases, as well as hidden iorta that mount guns up to loin. calibro are, of course, on or near the strait that bounds the north of Singapore Island. Military forces, except gunnerS and sappers, are stationed closer to Singapore city, on- the south side. As for the garrison, made up of crack regiments and Gordon Highlanders, it is constantly vincreased by units of field artillery, tanks4 and "other auxilliaries " of a nature not yet disclosed. Itoyal Naval Yolunteers, Malay ratings, civil aero-clubs, and even Chlnese levies — all are dovetailed into a composite "weapon" of ipatchle&s efficieucy. The Straits Government pays 500,000 dollars a year towards the upkeop, in addition to all the valuable land that has been freely ceded to tbe base. The climate here is very trying for white men, with an a/verage rainfall of 100 inches, and a temperature of 80 to 90 degrees during the whole year. Tropic diseases must be fought and mosquitoes kept at bay, with 70,000 gallons of kerosene always on tap. To avoid dysentery and cholera requires careful feeding of British soldiers and sailors. Their health and' spirits also require first-rate housing, with sports and games, cinemas, and other amusements in a natural hothouse where all conditions are exhausting. Constant watch is called for to rosist rust ° on metals and attaeks of the white ant. As fresh ground is cleared, venomous reptiles must bo dcstroyed. The strait itself ig a fearsome haven for man-eating tsharks, crocodiles and poisonous water-snakes; these are treated to explosivo depth-charges as with the lurking submarincs of tho World War.

One is bewildered by the complex masses of macliines in this advance post of Empire. It. stands about kalf-way between ludia and AuBtralia; it is the sam© distance from the China Seas. which carry a vast volume of the sea-bome trade upon which British prospei'ity deponds. Thus Singaporo must serve the fieets that defend Britain ^s intercsts in three major sphercs, Upon it millions in money must be frcely lavished since possible Allios, or at least " associatOs — Holland^ and even ^ tho United Btat'es — may one day rely upon Singapore when the Eaatern conqueror is on the march, Keeping the Base a Secret. Imposing and peculiar struetures lie behind barbed wire as "speciai areas," where photography is a serious offence. A warlike world shimmers here in the hot haze, Artillery and engineers are barracked at Changi, once the most popular bathing beach of the island. Then at Seletar, a former fishing village looking out to the Straits of Johore, a Eoyal Air Eorcq station has sprung up, equipped with machines of incredible speed and armament. This is oveh more secretiye thaii the great Naval Base a few miles off, at whose gates. stand turbaned Sikh police with ldaded rifles and fixed bayonets. Air-Commodore Sydney Smith, Chief of the E.A.F. ia the Far East, has laid out new aerodromes for his torpedo bombers, and has built ' mooring# for flying-boats So fast and larga that they m&y be considered "cruisers of the Clouds," On the heights of Mount Fabef, fifteen' inch batteries are invisibly emplaced in concrete. Thousands of ceolies are still st work on the 50,000-ton fioating dock, as well as On the fueboil depot where 1,' 250,000 tons are stored ^-enough to SUppiy a large fleet for six months — in underground tanks, Secret counoils have been heid on H.M.S, Eent, the flagship of Yice-

Admiral Sir Frederick Dreyer, of the China Squadron. With him was Vice-Admiral Dunbar Na smith, from the East Indies station; Yice-Admiral G. F. Hyde, Eoyal Australian Navy, and Commodore F. B. Watson of New Zealand. These, together with the Air Force Marehals and .Eenneth Lindsay. Civil Lord of the Admiralty, lceep in constant touch with Whitehall through radio-stations of great power. "Every portiOn of the Empire," Mr. Lindsay avers. "must do its bit to safeguard Domocracy, and protect its principles if they aro attacked." Japan's Military Mind. Not much transpires of what passes in these frequent "Cabinets" afloat. But everyone knows how the trend of Nippon Seishin, or Japan's race-mind is weighed by them and especially tho truceless "war" which its own fighting services wage against the civil power in Tokio. Have not the Kwantung and Imperial Arniies confronted the Treasury with a staggering demand for 6,200,000,000 yen, or * about £360,000,000 for the coming year's estimates? Combined manoeuvres of all three arrns , are a thrilling sight, and all the local Babel queues up to buy tickets at the vantage points of sea and. land and mountain. Here, in ishort, lies Britain 's "fortified triangle" between Colombo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Darwin in North Australia. These mimic attaeks make a grand eight after dark. If this stronghold defies the mystic epij^t ;(Yamato-Damashi) of proud Japan, it also affects the plans of Hitler 's Germany. "A« I see it, two points of world-danger face us now. One lies in the Far East; I mean, in Japan's sphere. The other is in Europe, in Germany 's ambit. It is hard to say which is the more threatening. Both exist, and both are smouldering. Perhaps matters in East Asia and the Pacifie are the more serious. But the centre of danger may at any time swing to Europe. And then — ?" Let Kaiser Wilhelm II. (above all men!) fill in the gap that Stalin leave-s here. A generation ago he could write of the "Yellow Peril":-^-" There will be a decisive battle between Western. civilisation and the semi-civili-sation of the East1"