BRITAIN'S POSSESSIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8105, 4 June 1906, Page 4

BRITAIN'S POSSESSIONS.

I s an article in tia«? Age an Sing&pore Senator Smith mak<!*thc following ink-?-remark*: —Professor tfet4eremet* Hjnivl that Great BftUtti *eei»ed-to-tis*e .-•ontjucrrd and peopled ball the world in ft lit of absence of mind. ff that be so she was extremely fortunate in not only alt Ibe vacant temperate land* of the world --so that the future expansion of the wliitc races mur-t be largely through Jirttlsf* |wrtai»—but abo in appropriating throughout the world ilratt'gie bales so admirably situated that she can lock many at One water thoroughfares of trade and row meree whenever neires&itf arises. Along the 10,'XKI raiieu of waterway that divides Europe from the Far Hast, the great tra&e route tmploges everywhere on British territory, and wherever that world'* way converge# icrto a niilUtream o commerce—tit Gibraltar, Aden or fc»a« gape re —frown ins batteries command the way ready U> sweep those narrow straits with ft hail of #hot and nhell. But Singapore, besides being a strategic base, is an emporium of trade and <: amine rcr, an Oriental Venice, the gateway of the Far 'Kast j past her endic** wharfs and warehouses ebb and flow the richly laden argosies of I he Orient; from this all nations warehouse great iiteamship lines mdiate in alt directions, and all roads lead to Singspore. The city standi eighth on the list of ihe world's greatest ports; about ttXMX*} tons of coal in constantly stored on her wbarfii, and the annual value of her trade is approximately £'SO/*.*V>X*. Viewing this proud and opulent city* one's thoughts naturally revert to the history of similar centres in the past, and one ss led to reflect on the instability of maritime cities, especially of those thai, rdy solely on commerce and shipping; lei; the restless ingenuity of man open up a more serviceable thoroughfare, and they fall into ruin, !ike a caravansary obi an abandoned track.