American Defences In

N.W. Pacific

From Our Own Correspondent.

Hawaii, June 20.

LATEST items in the expansion of the American defence scheme in the Pacific: Work on the million-dollar project of converting Midway Island into a major naval warplane, submarine and destroyer base is proceeding ahead of schedule.

The mine layer “Oglala” departs on July 8 with more workers, and the navy dredge “Hell Gate” leaves Honolulu, the same day, in tow of the navy tug “Sirius”.

Secretary of the Navy, Claude Swan son, has set for July 15 in Washington a conference of experts to investigate and report upon need for additional naval bases in U.S. territories and is lands in- the Pacific.

Navy announced this week that the “U.S.S. McCall”, Uncle Sam’s newest de stroyer, outside San Francisco, during a four-hours' test, steamed at 42 knots, believed to be the fastest speed ever at tained by any naval vessel.

The American defence scheme, is aimed at Japan. Another U.S. Govt, department, bureau of commerce, announces that for the six months of 1938 ending June 1, Japan was the greatest purchaser of American made munitions and war ma terials. She purchased exactly 6,091,090 dollars worth. Catch is that America sold 5,819,739 worth to China during the same period. The total American war exports for the same period amounted to more than 31,000.000 dollars. Combined Japanese and Chinese purchases during the whole of 1937 were only 10,000,000 dollars worth.

A sum of 9,000,000 dollars has been voted for a dry dock at Honolulu, which will accommodate the largest battleships.

Five million dollars will be devoted to a naval air base at Kodiak Island, off Northern Alaska, and 2,000,000 to harbour channel works at Midway Island.

Fifteen big Navy bombing seaplanes will be based on Guam, the southern most island of the Marianne group, oc cupied by Japanese. The American naval outpost is literally surrounded by Japanese islands, the nearest of which is only 80 miles distant. A number of 6in. guns have been mounted at strategic points on the Island, protecting the Pan American air base and the big wireless station. About 2,000 United States Ma rines are stationed there. The island is facetiously referred to as “America’s sui cide outpost”.