London, June 26.
An unfavourable description of the strategic position of Great Britain in the Far East is given in a letter to "The Times" today by Lord Beatty son of the famous British Admiral who commanded the British Fleet at tae Battle ct Jutland.
Lord Beatty expresses the opinion that Italy had only ventured on the expedition to Ethiopia in consequence of the weakness of the English Meciterranean Fleet and suggests that Japan might be similarly influenced by the inadequacy of the British naval forces in the Far East.
Singapore was of little value as long as it did not harbour a strong fleet, said Lord Beatty.
At the moment this was not the case, and indeed England at present was not able to remedy the position since the total strength of the British naval forces forbade any diminution of the fete stationed in the Mediterranean andthe North Sea. Thus England wa: obliged to hold three positions without being equipped adequately to meet the contingencies which might arise.
In addition there was yet another obligation which, though little known, England had not forgotten herself: England had promised Australia in case of a conflict in the Far East to send a squadron of battleships to Singapore. To fulfil this promise would be easier for England from 1941 onwards since by that time five new battleships of the "George V" series would have been commissioned. But the time from now until 1941 was a period which might become ye dangerous for Great Britain, Lord Beatty states in his letter—Trans-Ocean.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.