1937-05-10 — Page 10

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THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 10, 1937.

The China Mail

Ninety-Second Year of Publication SA Wyndham Street, Hong Kong Telephone 20022. London Office: Garrick Street, London, W.C.2

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Such services, in peace or war, require in the general scheme of strategy auxiliary bases from which Singapore can be supplied. sited at Trincomalee in Ceylon These bases are, in fact, already

and at Darwin in North Aus-

ralia.

Coming to naval policy

pure

All communications intended for and simple the creation of the Pacific fleet such informa- publication should be addressed to the Editor, and be accompanied by make clear the rudimentary al- tion as is available. seems to the Writer's Name and Address,ernatives. At the Imperial Con- not necessarily for insertion bu as a guarantee of good faith.

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ference Australia will be asked to consider whether Australia will elect to contribute ships as part of a planned and homogene- pus Pacific fleet, or to follow a purely local naval policy. If the former, then there remains to Hong Kong, Monday, May 10, 1937. settle her quota of auxiliary ves-

Postage Abroad Extra

NEW NAVAL POLICY

.

sels. If the latter, then Austra- lia's part is to maintain many more sloops than at present, în order to supply naval convoys for There is good reason for coastal sea-routes and to lay pro- believing that recent reports tective minefields. There can be concerning the widening horizons little doubt of the Australian of British naval strategy, with response. It would be a small- special reference to the develop-minded policy which did not ac- ment of a battle fleet in the cept the invitation to contribute Pacific, convey a fair picture of some strength in auxiliary ves- the proposals which will be sub-sels to the main Pacific fleet. mitted .to. the Dominions, There seems little, doubt, too, especially Australia and New that there will be some revision Zealand, at the Imperial Confer- of past notions of performance ence which opens at St. James's in such contribution. With an Palace on Friday. At the end of Imperial fleet at Singapore, it February the Australian Minis-may not be sufficient for Austra- ter for Defence, in a covert state-lian ships to remain (as now) ment, said that additions or re-in Australian waters under a placements proposed to be made separate Australian command. to the Australian Navy could The Imperial fleet will have to not be settled before the Confer-work together constantly and as ence discussions, and that the one force. Nor should the de- Australian Government was not parture seem so radical with the yet committed to any definite movement northward of the line of action. Nor could it be: naval centre of gravity (strategi- the moves to be discussed are the cally speaking) in conformity most important since the epoch- with the existence of the Singa-" making agreement at the Im-pore Base. From a naval point perial Naval Conference of 1909, of view the whole process ap- when the first Australian fleet pears to be dictated by invincible unit was planned under the circumstances. scheme for a joint Pacific fleet.

Moreover the proposals to-day

are made în circumstances that The Coronation Service

promise more determined action

by all parties concerned. The The official form of the Singapore Base is, to all intents Coronation service, is well worth and purposes, finished and ready. The next step is to decide what naval force shall be stationed in these waters with Singapore as its headquarters. A naval base is a depot necessarily fortified for provisioning and dockyard repair of a battle fleet. It must be also strategically situated in order to serve these purposes, to simplify fulfilment of the fleet's needs at sea or în harbour, to “command,” in the service term, the vital sea-lanës.

reading. Long tradition has amassed such a wealth of sym- bolic acts and ceremonies that the difficulty is to give them due honour without overstepping the limits of physical endurance in all who take part în the service. Queen Victoria was in the Abbey for five hours. The service was greatly shortened for Edward VII because of his illness. For- tunately the same need for dras- tic curtailment does not exist in the present case, but con- The British Government's pro- venience dictated some clipping posal

I is believed to be that, when of ancient observances, and vari- the Atlantic, and Mediterranean ous time-saving methods have Fleets have been reinforced with been used. Even the brief ac- the capital ships now being built count of the service published and to be built, a squadron of in the "Sunday Herald" souvenir older ships of the line, probably number yesterday shows how the ✩ve modernised Queen Eliza-rich is its inheritance of symbol beths, shall be stationed upon and rite. The recognition of the Singapore as the core of an Im-monarch by his people, the ad- perial Pacific fleet. This battle ministration of the oath, to the squadrón would require its due King, the anointing, the pre- auxiliaries in cruisers for fleet sentation of symbolic vestments work and reconnaissance, des- and regalia, the crowning, the troyers, submarines, and sloops ""lifting" of the King into his for.mine-laying or merchant con- throne - all these ordained acts voy. Such auxiliary squadrons are beautifully set. It may be must be furnished either by Bri said, too, that they are beauti- tain alone or by Britain and the fully described in the form of Pacific Dominions together. Nor Bervice. When, for instance, the is that all The Dominions will Archbishop puts the crown ön be expected, and would them- the King's head at the eight selves expect, to contribute to whereof the people with loud and arrangements for provisioning repeated shouts shall cry God Singapore with food, munitions, save the King,' the peers and the and coal. The food supplies re- Kings-of Arms shall put on their quired are for both European coronets, and the trumpets shall and native garrison - troops, and sound and by a signal given the perhaps for the civilian popula-, great guns of the Tower shall be tion as well.

shot off."

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