The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1932. THE PACIFIC FLEET.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 October 1932, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1932. THE PACIFIC FLEET.

The interest shown in the Far Eastern position can be gathered by the recent report of the suggestion being made by the British Admiralty of the' re-organisation of naval units in the Pacific, with the intention of the creation of a Pacific Fleet under a supreme command. The Admiralty’s statement that so far there are no official plans i.s intended, no doubt, <to refer to the future. In point of fact, however, there js in existence a complete and comprehensive scheme, for such an organisation to he created over-night, so to speak. It will ho found in the Jellicoe Report presented to the Australian and New Zealand Government in 1919. Broadly sneaking, the report reconciled the policy of local navies with the requirements of Imperial efficiency and safety. It provided for the establishment of an Imperi l Fleet in Eastern waters, with heiadquartc and its supremo commander ha. d at Singapore, and including ships of the Royal Navy, the East Indies Squadron, and any vessels

furnished by Canada, New Zealand, and the Malay States. It is obvious that this plan was based on certain ■assumptions. It assumed, for example, that effective disarmament was a very remote possibility, that the League- bf Nation* would be unable to prevent future, wars, and that one possibility, either near or remote, was a conflict in the Pacific exposing the British possessions in that region to tire danger of attack. It says veiy little for the progress of international peace by arbitration, or of disarmament, that these assumptions of 1919, are still valid. That cannot be denied. When Lord Jellicoe penned his report the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was 'still in force, but its determination •bad became a politeal question in Britain,, a-t that time anxious to conciliate .’the United States, while Japan had embarked upon extensive addi thins to her navy. The alliance was terminated in 1922. and replaced by the Washington Four-Power Pact That Treaty had a currency of ten years—l 922-1932. The Washington Nine-Power Treaty of 1922. providing for the territorial integrity of China, also provided' tha-t all foreign trading nations would have -copal opportunity, and that there was to be no discrimination. by China against any one of them. Japan has unavailing.!}' protected against the boycott organised organised against her hv the Chinese, and might be excused for placing her action in Manclnir-ia as a set-off against the boycott, and even denouncing the Treaty. The- Lytton Report has left her high and d'rv, practically isolated, ■and to all appearances impotent. Suppose that Japan in disgust and despair goes her own way? In the naval sense, hers is the strongest strategic position in the Western. Pacific, either for attack or defence, and the Japanese militarists are no doubt thinking along these lines. The interest of the British units in the 'South Pacific is of a substantial nature, and the happenings and movements in the ■ future will be watched with decided interest.