The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15th, 1925. A SIGNIFICANT VISIT.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 April 1925, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15th, 1925. A SIGNIFICANT VISIT.

Tin-: coining ol tiic picrican Kleet, duo in Australiu uml Now Zealand in .July and August respectively, is a visit of groat significance. This is being emphasised in the Commonwealth. The Prime .Minister (.Mr Bruce) in an address be lore a la rye audience, referred to the forthcoming visit of the American Meet to Australia, lie said that to Australia the great Republic of the l nited States was something more than a loreign power. It represented the realisation of the aspirations which we had to-day for the future of our country. A hundred years ago America had a scanty population and problems of development similar to those which we were facing to-day. To us, then, the visit ol the Special Service Squadron ol the l nited States Navy, following so closely upon the visit of (he Special Service Squadron of Great Hritnin’s Navy, was of peculiar interest. This visit was no militaristic demonstration, hut a friendly visit of representatives of one friendly power to the ports and people of another. Both were linked together by ties of common ancestry and common inheritance in language,

literature, and ideas. The friendliness with fvhich the United States as a Government and a people viewed Australia had keen shown on' many occasions m the past, and none who recalled the spirit of fraternisation between the American and Australian soldiers during the concluding months of the war would doubt that the naval brothers of those American soldiers would he enthusiastically, received in every port at which they touched. Besides the common tie of literature and language, they had also to stress that other common tie of bordering upon the same ocean and sharing the same problems. The United States, on their

side of the Pacific, and we on outside, were working for the same ideals and traditions. Wc were facing similar problems, although in vastly different circumstances. They had a population of between 114 and lid millions, and we had hut a handful of people, mainly along the fringe of our coastline of 12.000 miles. Both in America and here there was one desire for the maintenance of the world’s peace, with a common aim to limit the burden of armaments, whether on land or on sea, or in the air, to the restricted dimensions commensurate with national safety. The United States Navy, the British Navy, and the Australian Navy, were not intended for the purpose of

foreign aggression. Each was a national contribution to world peace, and together they might well he a deter- 1 mining factor in preserving that peace. . Sueli co-operation between the great navies of the United States and Great Britain was particularly to he sought in that ocean which most closely affooted us. and there were indications that the paramount importance of the Pacific was becoming more widely re- t cognised in other parts of the Empire to which we belonged. That recogni- . tion, the visit of the American Fleet might be trusted to hasten and deepen. He hoped the visit would strengthen c the ties of friendship that already ex- t isted. By that friendship much could ,< ho done for the peace of the Pacific, a in which was the best guarantee of the f, future peace of the world. t