Warships Go off “Into the Blue”

Blue”

Pacific Programmes Altered

THE somewhat tense situation in the Mediterranean had its repercussion in various Pacific Islands ports recently.

Preparations had been made to give a welcome to certain important units of the Australian Fleet, which was making one of its leisurely periodical cruises in the South Sea Islands, but the ships did not appear.

The Australian warships Sussex and Canberra, with a number of smaller ves sels, called at Darwin, and then they dis appeared suddenly “into the blue,” and there was a curt announcement that they would not be seen in the Islands ports.

It was known subsequently that the Sus sex was somewhere in the vicinity of Aden and it was reported on October 9 that the Canberra was at Fremantle.

This apparently is all part of a quick

arrangement of British naval forces which took place when Italy displayed her determination to defy the League of Nations and proceed with her Abyssinian enterprise.

When John Bull led the League of Nations’ protest against this development the Italians became very excited and hos tile, and showed some inclination to at tack British forces in the Mediterranean.

Britain said very little; but Italy awoke one morning to find that a powerful sec tion of the British Fleet was in the Mediterranean, ready to protect British interests in Malta, Crete, and Egypt.

From that moment, the tune of the Italian song was considerable modified.

The despatch of a section of the British Home Fleet to the Mediterranean made new dispositions necessary, and that ob viously is why a section of the Australian Fleet was moved rapidly and secretly to another part of the world.

Various worthy people, in Rabaul and other ports, were disappointed at the non-appearance of the Australian war ships; but John Bull had serious business on hand, at the moment, and it was necessary to postpone mere pleasure cruises.