The Federal Cabinet has now given its decision on Sir Leopold Savile's report on the proposed construction of a battleship dock in Australia, Mr. Menzies announced this week that a graving dock to accommodate capital ships would be built immediately at a cost of £3,000,000. The progress of the war, it is held, has not seriously diminished the significance of sea-Power but has proved the continued value of the capital ship, while the German conquest of Holland has dir-ceted the interest of Pacific Powers to the future of the Dutch East Indies, which vitally concerns Australia. All these considerations point to the necessity for the Commonwealth to provide facilities for capital ships to operate in the near Pacific. Without a dock no capital ship, whether British, A, or belonging to a friendly Power, could maintain effective operations in these waters. Our first and strongest line of defence lies in the British Navy and its stronghold at Singapore. The Singapore Base, however, is nearly 2,000 nautical miles from Darwin, and any naval forces based upon it will be able to develop their fullest striking power only if their capital units can be accommodated at need in an Australian dock.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.