Additions to Far East Fleet Can Be Easily Arranged London, Jan. 1.
The 31,000 ton battleship Warspite has been reconstructed at a cost of £2,250,000 and will go to the Mediterranean on January 4, where there will then be three battleships and two battle cruisers The brand new cruiser Birmingham. is now being outfitted, preparatory to leaving for China. Although no large additions to the British squadron in the Far East are contemplated at present, it is understood that such can easily be arranged if necessary.
From three to five battleships are confidently predicted in the Navy estimates for 1938, says the Naval Correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" to-day.
Thus, ten capital ships may be built during 1938-39. It maybe necessary to lay the keels for two of the ships at Portsmouth and Devonport, the correspondent asserts.
N a balance in power is to be maintained, he says, more battleships must be started this year, for when five are being built to enter the service of Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan have at least nine similar ships ready. The correspondent adds that this year's battleships are expected to be more powerful than the George V.—Reuter.
London, Jan, 1.
Law, journalism, music, stage, social work, and military, political and public services are recognized in the New Year Honours List, which include one\elevation in the peerage, five new es, five baronetcies, and 35 knights bachelor.
Of especial interest to the -Far East are the honours bestowed jupon:
Major-General A. P. D. Telfer-Smollett, Commander of the British forces in the Shanghai area, who has been made a Companion of the Bath; Mr. J. L, Dodds, Coungellor of the British Embassyy at Tokyo, who has been made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George; Brigadier Alfred Henry Hopwood, commander of the British troops in the Tientsin area, who has been made a Companion of the Bath; Mr, B. D, Butler, Consul-General at Mukden, who has been made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St, George:
Major M, A. Johnson, of Hongkong, who has been created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire; Miss Goodbank, of Tientsin, who has been made 'a Member of the Order of the British Empire; Mr, Chou Tsun-nin, of Hongkong, who has been made a Commander of ihe \Order of the British Empire; and Mr. T. H. King of Hongkong, who has been awarded the Police Medal.
The Honours List is headed by a Viscounty to Lord Nuffield, the motor magnate—the only promotion Maj-Gen. A.P.D. Telfer-Smollett who has been made Companion of the Bath. in the peerage—who has given huge sums to worthy causes during the past few months.
The new barons are:
Field-Marshal Sir William Birdwood, Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Great War and later Commander-in-Chief in India; Sir Leonard Brassey, former Conservative M. P, for the Peterborough division of Northamptonshire and a member of the Jockey Club since 1898; Captain Sir John Childs Ganzoni, Conservative M, P. for Ipswich and Chairman of the Private Bill Commission. since 1923.
Sir Henry Lopes, C! airman of the Devon County Council and. Sir Percival Perry, Chairman of the Ford Motor Company, Limited, Director of the National Provincial Bank Limited and Slough Estates Limited, and Director of Traction at the Ministry of Munitions in 1918-
Among the new baronets is Sir Vernon Thomson, Chairman of the King Line, Limited, Chairman of the Tramp Shipping Subsidy Committee in 1935 and 1936, "and President of the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom in 1936.
The 35 new knights bachelor me clude:
The Rev. Herbert Dunnico, Hon. Warden of the Browning Settlement, Southwark, since 1932, and Secretary of the International Peace Society since 1916, He worked in a factory at the age of 10; in a coal-mine at: 12; entered a business house at the age of 13, and after eight years business training was awarded a university scholarship. ' He subsequently entered the Baptist Ministry.
Mr. Edward Meyerstein, retired stockbroker.
The new Privy Councillors include:
Sir John Anderson, formerly Gov ernor of Bengal; Mr, Robert Hudson, Conservative MP. for Southport and formerly Minister of Pensions; and The Earl of Lucan, Captain of the Hon, Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms since 1931 and Irish Representative Peer.
Viscount Gort, the new Chief of the Imperial General Staff, has been created a Knight Commander of the 4 Bath, while General Sir Arthur Wauchope, who recently resigned from the post of High Commissioner of Palestine owing to ill-health, has been made a Knight Grand Cross of a Knight of the British Empire, Other persons honoured include:
Mr. Earle Christmas Grafton Pose, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (Continued on page 8)
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.