Sin;, May 28.
Singapore defence authorities. are keenly interested in the report that the Netherlands naval authorities are considering the construction of three battleships of 30,000 tons each for the Netherlands East Indies Station.
It has already been decided to increase the naval strength of the Indies by six 8,000-ton cruisers during the next three years. At present there are only two cruisers, the Java and the de Ruyter, based on Sourabaya, the naval base of the Indies. One new ohe is under construction, and another is to be started next year.
There are also the 3,450-ton flotilla leader Tromp, several destroyers and a number of submarines, The need for strong naval forces has long been realised in the Netherlands East Indies, and the programme recently embarked upon is largely the result of petitioning by residents in the Indies—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.