SINGAPORE DOCK.

Shannon News, 18 August 1925, Page 4

SINGAPORE DOCK.

NEW TYPE OF NAVAJj DQCiv. LONDON, Jun e 30. At a meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute, Dr. Vaughan Cornish, a well-known geographical expert, lectured on the subject of the Singapore Base. A good deal of his lecture was taken up with an explanation of the right type of map for naval study. The. strategical considerations governing' the decision to establish a base at. Singapore, he maintained, call for ii re-orientation of the mays.we are accustomta to use.

The main object being- usually to display the continents, maps of the world are generally cut along the continuous meridians 20deg. W. and l<sodeg. E., which runs down the Atlantic and ■ Pacific Oceans, which is the best practicable division between the lands, although it separates New Zealand from Australia. Another map used in studying' sea routes is that which only cuts once across the east and west communications of the world. The cut is usually along the meridian ISOdeg., which makes the meridian of Greenwich the centre of the map. The division is convenient for time-keeping 1 , but topographically the meridian IGOdeg. W. is better for *he cut, as it is a more nearly equal division of this owan, and keeps most of the islands of the South Pacific together on the Australian side on the map, instead of representing a considerable proptn'tion as 'if they were on the opposite side of the world. ' Ideal Division Line.

"The ideal lin e of division for the map," said I7r. Cornish, "would be a meridian not crossed by the fleet of any naval power when cruising between its stations. Previous to the construction of' the Panama Canal it would not, I think, have been possible to find this line of division. Until the American navy was provided with this short cut, the voyage from the naval shipbuilding- yards on the Atlantic to »he Pacific coast and Pearl Harbour In the Hawaiian Islands, took the American Fleet .eastwards half-iway across the Atlantic, for Brazil extends east, of the meridian 35deg. W. Now, however. th e line of communication of the American Fleet follows thee meridian 75deg. W. from Hampton roads at the entrance to Chespeake Bay to Windward passage, between Haiti and Cuba, with the station of Guantanomo on the latter island, to Colon, the fortified entrance port of the Panama Canal." Taking this map of the world centited at llOdeg, E., and divided at 7Odeg:. W., we find that the meridian half-way between the centre and the right hand of the map, that of I6odeg. W., although not mentioned in the Washington Treaty, has in fact acquired a new political and strategic importance. Under the Treaty the United States has agreed not to develop or fortify the Aleutian Islands or any of the Oceanic Islands of the Pacific, except the Hawaiian Group. The meridian 160 deg. W., runs just west of Oahu, the Hawaiian island where Pearl Harbour, the naval base, and Honolulu, the commercial port, are situated; and the other Islands of the group lie to the east. The lecturer devided the new map. of whiGh Singapoie is practically ""the centre, into four quadrants. Each of these quadrants has a special significance to different navies, especially those of Great Britain, Japan, and America. White Australian Policy. Dr. Cornish went on to deal with the strategical importance of Singapore, which becomes much plainer to the lay mind when studied in a map such as suggested. He pointed out, however, that the strategical importance of Singapore is not only naval, for it is a necessary aerodrome between India and Australia, and, therefore, fin essential link in the aeria! communications between Australia and Great Britain. Thus, even if in the course of the twentieth century the task of protecting- maritime communications becom c more aerial and less naval, the strategical importance of Singapore will not necessarily diminish.

The lecturer made an interesting statement regarding the "White Australia" policy. "This," he said, "has been uncritically described as an effort to prevent congested populations in Asia from colonising empty lands. In point of fact it does not do so for the Asiatic cooWe has empty land at the doors of his own country. The Asiatic lands, continental and insular, adjacent to Japan, China, and India, which are suitable in soil and climate for colonisation by Asiatics, exceed in area all the land of tropical Australia., California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, put together. The real effect of the exclusion' policy is to hinder the Asiatic from earning large wages and making high profits. If this results in his colonising his own Continents, the upshot will be beneficial to his descendants, for it is in Asia, not in Occidental countries, that th e Oriental can enjoy full national life and develop his own civilisation."

Sydney as a Base. Captain Altham, 8.N., remarked that the necessity for Singapore Docks had been brought home to England by the China troubles. He referred to the suggestion that Sydney would be a better place for a dock. A base such as Singapore or a repair base, he said, had to be maintained and supplied by this country, and on e must realise the immense difficulty of supplying a station so far off as Australia. Australia did not possess the resources necessary to maintain a dock. Moreover the labour conditions in Australia would prevent a dock such as Singapore being built. It would cost thirty million pounds in Australia to build a dry dock alone. Captain Altham said that the floating dock destined for Malta should be sent on as a temporary expedient to Singapore, and the China Squadron .augmented by a battle-cruiser, while other vessels should follow when they became available.