GESTURE OF LOYALTY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 213, 28 November 1927, Page 1

GESTURE OF LOYALTY

KEW ZEALAND AND BASE AT SINGAPORE VIEWS OF “NEW YORK TIMES” By Cable.—Press Association. — Copyright. NflW 'SORK, Saturday. 'T'HE New York “Times” says the A action of the New Zealand Parliament in voting £1,000,000 toward the cost of the Singapore base should not be regarded as an unfriendly gesture directed at any Power or group of Powers in the Pacific. ft merely bears witness to the loyalty of the New Zealanders to the Empire. Since they and the Australians alike regard Singapore as the rallying point of British interests in the Western Pacific, it is natural and proper that they shouuld prove their faith by works. The close community of interests between the Dominions and the United States has. says the “Times/* established a solidarity which not even the blasts of Mr. W. Thompson, the Mayor of Chicago, can shake. Canada, New Zealand, and Australia are pioneer countries, which face problems similar to those of America. Peopled as they are by kindred stocks, and having similar forms of government they view the world more nearly eye to eye than do any other nations. So long as the Dominions form essential links in the Empire, they cannot remain aloof from the do- ■ fence of the Empire. I Hence it is only fitting that they i should take a share of the cost of j the defensive forces of the Empire, • *hich, as the British delegates to the j recent Naval Arms Limitation Confer-' enee aptly showed, are essential for I the protection of Britain’s far-flung : lines of commerce and communication. —A. and N.Z.