For the third year in succession the Straits Settlements have made substantial contribution towards. perial defence, the amount this year being no less than £58,000. Not only Is the gift a splendid indication of the colony's loyalty to the Empire, but it fs striking proof of the con: tinued rehabilitation of the fortunes of that part of the world, for It will be remembered that It was only 3 very few years ago that the Straits Settlements were suffering very badly Indeed under the depression and the Joutlook was exceptionally gloomy. /Such contributions are happily not infrequently mede by other dependencies. Thus the Federated Malay States, which enjoyed a notable immunity from the sufferings entailed by the Great War were able }to make substantial contributions in money and armaments towards the is of the British Empire. It may thought that, in comparison with the huge amounts which Great Brital Jhas to spend for the defence of the Empire, £58,000 is a very small sum, but the really important point in-[volved in gestures such as this is the me quality of patriotism that inspires the making of such a gift. From that point of view contributions such 85 the one under notice serve to Indicate to the world at large the very real unity which exists through-Jout the Empire, and it justifies the [belief that when crises arise the individual components of the widely ung commonwealth of nations wilt respond in exactly the same way as they did some twenty years ago.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.