ROAD TO SINGAPORE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1940, Page 4

ROAD TO SINGAPORE

PLANNED BY AMERICAN NAVY CHAIN OF STATIONS ACROSS PACIFIC. PREPARATIONS FOR FLEET CO-OPERATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copylight’ (Received This Day, 9.35 a.m.) WASHINGTON, December 23. American naval experts are reported to have made a blueprm “Road to Singapore”—a chain o naval stations across the " a^ IT which can be linked with Austr Ilan bases in war time. Tiny islands, fuel depots, and . vation posts, from Hawaii to At <• lia, and thence to Singapore, \ the road’s bases, over which . States warships could move m safety in war time and atta fk trade routes, or support the and Dutch fleets. .• n a iIt is announced that the a ready taken includes placing Island, a thousand miles south- ,■ tion Hawaii, under the Navy’s jurisdiction and preparing it as a . na Y a vicinity station. Other islands in the v c ty, including Canton. Howland and Bake , are being considered for similar uses President Roosevelt has tentat V y decided to broadcast an a the present emergency at 9.30 p.m. o December 29. p-w, South-westward lies the Pag g naval station and beyond there Port M lt that British-Austra-lian co-operation for the use of tnese or any other bases the United States desires is assured. No compact has been signed, but frequent; informal talks have given an excellent idea of the two Governments’ reactions to various circumstances. There is what amounts to an informal understanding, without commitment.