U.S.A. BASES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 March 1943, Page 3

U.S.A. BASES

NECESSARY AFTER THE WAR STATEMENT BY COLONEL KONX. MATTER FOR NEGOTIATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) NEW YORK, February 26. The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says that the Secretary of the Navy Colonel Knox, told a Press conference that negotiations should start now for the acqisistion of overseas bases which the United States considered would be necessary after the war. “The navy is not in a position to negotiate for such foreign consessions, but it is entitled to express its views and needs to the Government agencies which would carry out the negotiations,” Colonel Knox said. The Secretary explained that the United States had a large and powerful air base on the island of Upolu (Samoan Group), which wai under New Zealand mandate, and where there was a runway 1000 ft. wide and 6000 to 7000 ft. long, permitting five planes to land simultaneously. It was equipped with revetments protecting the planes from bombing, and had excellent dispersal stations scattered in jungle-covered areas. The entire base had been built from crushed volcanic rock, which hardens when rained upon. Questioned as to whether Opolu was one of the bases which New Zealand suggested might be turned over in perpetuity to America, Colonel Knox replied: “Yes, That is under discussion.” Concluding, Colonel Knox asserted that the United States should be concerned with only military needs, without acquiring new bits of land. “This must be a matter for negotiation, and we are not gong to grab them,” he said. NEW ZEALAND’S POSITION COMMENT BY MR FRASER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. When asked last night to comment on the remarks attributed to Colonel Knox, the Prime Minster, Mr Fraser, stated that no negotiations had taken place concerning the post-war provisions of permanent American bases in the Pacific. In any case, such a matter would, added Mr Fraser, require to be discussed by all the British Governments concerned —United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand with the United States. “So far as Western Samoa is concerned, New Zealand occupies a position of trusteeship on behalf of the native inhabitants to the League of Nations,” said the Prime Minister. “Till that body is reconstituted or its authority is vested in some similar international organisation New Zealand is not in a position to enter into discussions as to the dispositon of its mandated territory.”