Parliament's Week

House of Commons:

P: J. Beckett, Labor, asked Foreign Secretary Austen Chamberlain if any understanding existed between the U. S. and British Naval authorities, and if the possibility of the U. S. using the Singapore naval base had ever been discussed. Mr. Chamberlain, replying to the first part of the question, said that he would find it easier to answer if he could be confident that he understood it. He confined himself to saying that there was not, and he hoped there never would be, any misunderstanding between the U. S. and British naval authorities. As regards Singapore, the answer was decidedly in the negative.

P: William Clive Bridgeman, First Lord of the Admiralty, defended the increased naval appropriations (TIME, Mar. 23) in a spirited speech. He went over a lot of old ground and became interesting only when he arrived at the tail end of his speech and found himself at Singapore. He saw no offense to Japan in building the base. He accused the Labor Party of dropping the project as a gesture to get other countries to cooperate in universal disarmament. He quoted an American as saying: "When you cooperate with people, you find they do the operating while you do the co-ing." "There was a good deal of operating going on in other places," said Mr. Bridgeman.

Sir Alfred Mond, Liberal, asked:

"Are the right honorable gentleman's remarks likely to assist in the proposals which are now coming from America?"

Replied Mr. Bridgeman:

"I have said nothing provocative. Other countries are building ships, but that is not provoking us any more than our building a floating dry dock at Singapore is provoking them. We had to look at facts. In February, 1924, the shipbuilding program of the world was 228 building or projected. In February this year, the number was 352."

Mr. C. G. Ammon, Labor:

"That is in accordance with the Washington agreement."

Mr. Bridgeman:

"So is the Singapore base. To talk about this country's being provocative is sheer nonsense. Out of 352 warships building or projected, our contribution is 20. We have no lust of conquest; we have no desire for more territory; all we want is peace to protect and develop our trade and the territory we have got. No gesture is needed to show that Britain is a peaceable country.

"What could she possibly gain by aggression against anybody? War has no attraction for us. In recent years, we have seen too much of the misery."

Ex-Premier Ramsay MacDonald, Sir Alfred Mond and Viscountess Astor followed. The first dwelt on the psychological effects of the Singapore base on the Japanese; the second called the naval estimates a sham; the third thought that the Army and the Navy should be strong enough to secure peace.