JAPAN MUST FIGHT BRITAIN
The people of New Zealand regard a base at Singapore as a
pressing necessity for strategical reasons. They agree that its
construction is a defensive measure, for as long as the British
Fleet is unable to operate in the Pacific the Empire is in danger.
It is premature to rely on the League of Nations as a means of
ensuring peace.
4
In other words, New Zealand relied for defence on a
British Fleet based on Singapore. The British have, however,
some reason to be dissatisfied with the incidence of the cost,
which works out at £i 6s. lod. per head in England, and to
8,r. per head in New Zealand.
The Indian Navy.
Before 1926 the so-called Indian Marine consisted
of a few armed merchantmen and patrol vessels. But on this
purely nominal Navy India spent £350,000 a year, in
addition to £100,000 for the base of the East Indies
Squadron at Colombo, to which the Indians very naturally
objected.
In February 1926 this nominal force was abolished and
a new Indian Navy established, to consist of four sloops
and two patrol vessels. Its scope is gradually being extended
and entry into it has been made open to Indians, but only
during certain seasons of the year.
The majority of Indians are opposed to the establish-
ment of this Navy. They say, "We have no enmity against
any country : we have no potential enemy. What, then,
is the use of a Navy ? It is intended to be used against us,
there is no one else, and we will have nothing to do with it."
The sole object of the Navy is to keep the Indians down,
and that is why they object to it. India is not like it was :
anti-British feeling is rife all over it. The Indians have our
deepest sympathy: they have to maintain a Navy for their
own oppression, and the very money for it is squeezed out
of their own empty pockets. ;
But India is the vital treasure house of England. The
safety of the trade routes across the Indian Ocean is, beyond
all^doubt, absolutely essential to her existence. The respon-
sibility for it rests, at present, on the East Indies Squadron,
but there is no mistaking the intention to let it fall on the