PACIFIC SECURITY
CO-ORDINATED DEFENCE PLAN'S COMMON USE OF BASES. ENGLISH-SPEAKING NATIONS & DUTCH INDIES. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright ‘ MANILA, January 9. li is reliably reported that plans for cn-operalion by ihe British, ihe Uiiiled Stales and Dutch navies have reached a point where protection of the interests of the three Powers in Souih-eaM Asia i- assured. It is stated that all the British and | Netherlands bases in this region will i be available for vessels of the United . States in the event of hostilities, and I that the American bases will likewise • be made available to the other two Powers. The British naval strength locally is very formidable; the Dutch forces arc said to include five cruisers, 12 destroyers. 20 submarines, and 700 aero-, planes: and, in addition, the strength of the United States’ Asiatic Fleet based on Manila is the greatest in its history. The American preparations include the distribution of supplies of gasoline, oil and munitions in strategic harbours throughout the Philippines. The defences of Manila are virtually impregnable, It was officially announced in Singapore today that a large supply of war material has been landed in Malaya for use by the infantry battalions in the Federated Malay Stales. This equipment, which consists largely of Bren gun-carriers and light trucks, is' part of large quantities of war mater-’ ial sent to Malaya in recent weeks.i Each unit is new and ready for service; immediately after unloading. FULL ALLY PURPOSEFUL EFFORT IN INDIES. CONSIDERABLE FORCE AVAILABLE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. January 9. i interesting comments upon the position of the Netherlands East Indies were made in London today by Dr. Slotemaker de Bruine. of the Netherlands Colonial Office. As a result of the invasion of Holland last May the East Indies, as an integral part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, automatically gave up their neutrality and entered the Avar against Germany.’' ho said. While the East Indies, in common with other Powers in the Pacific, stands for the maintenance of the status quo in that part of the world, in Europe they constitute a full ally of Britain and carry on the war against the common enemy under the direction of the responsible Dutch authorities in London and in close co-operation with the British Government. Immediately after the' East Indios declared themselves at war) with Germany steps were taken to in-l crease their defences.
“Conscription was introduced for al! Dutchmen between the ages of 18 and 4G, and all potentially dangerous German nationals, totalling approximately 5000. were interned. The expenditure on defence was greatly increased, and in the Budgets for the year 1941 a total of £55.500,000 has been allotted to defence. Strenuous efforts are being made to mechanise the new armv.
"There is a growing popular demand on the part of the natives for service as well as Dutchmen, and in other ways. too. the native population has given striking proof of its solidarity in the present time of national danger. The authorities have already provided several opportunities for natives to play a part in the defence: new officers’ training schools have been opened to natives, and the same applies to the naval colleges, while in the air force a number of natives are receiving training as pilots gunners and observers. NETHERLANDS NAVY. "The most important pcirt of the defences of the Netherlands East Indies is the navy. Even in peace the largest part of the Royal Dutch Navy was always based in ihe East Indies and there it still remains It contains all sorts of naval units, from cruisers to submarines and small patrolling craft. New ships of a lighter type are being built locally, and ;h t > naval forces are being eontimially increased. "In ihe economic field the war naturally has brought great chaniit" Ex* change control was immediately introduced, and as a result of the closing of the European market to East Indies products new :>• roe.h.id to be made for disposal ».f their r.iu material The European marki’t had accounted f.,>- much ; '.»■? per of such exports n.s tobacco, while I* took respectively 17 per cent and 22 per cent of the |<,.s> p-j,, ~x , f oil and rubber Th:-; stream of s’.tp-j plies has now been completely cut io Europe under its Nazi master "The Netherlands Ea-t Ind;. m.-r-i cantile marine is also rendering gn-ad services to th;? .Allied cause
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19410111.2.39
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1941, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
725PACIFIC SECURITY Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 January 1941, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Times-Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.