CHAPTER IX

SINGAPORE, THE GATEWAY OF THE PACIFIC

It

SINGAPORE is the gateway into the Pacific Ocean; but it is more than this. It is the strategical pivot round which radiate the three divisions of the Eastern Fleet-the East Indian, the China, and the Australia squadrons, which are based respectively on Bombay, Hong-Kong, and Sydney. In time of war Singapore will be the central rendezvous of these three squadrons for coaling, victualling, and refitting, as well as for offensive movement. will be the purpose of this chapter to give some account of Singapore, the capital town of the Malay Peninsula, and see how far it is at present equipped for its rôle as a naval supply base, and what steps are being taken by the Imperial and local Colonial Governments to develop its strategic resources, and turn to the best use the dominating advantages of its unique geographical position.

The influence and territorial power of Great Britain in the Straits of Malacca are not confined to the island town of Singapore, but extend for upwards of 400 miles or more along the whole east

coast of the Straits as far as the island of Penang, otherwise known as Prince Edward's Island, which was purchased by the East India Company in 1786, and, with its important town and harbour of Georgetown, remained as the seat of government of the Straits Settlements till the government was transferred to Singapore in 1857. The whole of this coast-line is either the direct freehold property of Great Britain, or belongs nominally to one of the four federated Malay States, whose chiefs agreed in 1895 to constitute their countries a federation, to be administered under the advice of the British Government. From a military point of view the protected port of Singapore enjoys greater advantages than either Gibraltar or Aden, neither of which fortresses has any incorporated adjacent territory containing a friendly population able and willing to contribute supplies, and, if necessary, fighting-men for purposes of local defence. The native population of the Straits Settlements,1 which, besides Singapore, include Malacca, the Dindings, Wellesley Province, and Penang, numbers roughly about 600,000, that of the Federated Malay States being nearly 800,000. In case of war the enemy would have to reckon with the hostility of all these people, the chiefs of the Federated States being

1 The Cocos or Keeling Islands, annexed by Great Britain in 1857, were placed under the Government of the Straits Settlements in 1886, and Christmas Island, annexed in 1888,

was

placed under the same Government in 1889. On January 1, 1907, the island of Labuan was brought under the administrative jurisdiction of the Singapore Government.

bound by treaty to support the British Government with contingents of armed men for the defence of the colony of the Straits Settlements.

Singapore is a striking example of the influence of commercial enterprise in building up the British Empire. It was occupied by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819, not for military, but for trading purposes. Raffles was at that time Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen, the East India Company's settlement in Sumatra. Java, which had been fairly conquered from the Dutch in 1811 with a loss of 900 killed and wounded English soldiers and sailors, had with mistaken magnanimity been given back to Holland after the peace of 1815. No sooner were the Dutch back in Java than they sought to elbow the East India Company out of the Malay Archipelago, and secure the monopoly of its trade. Learning that the Dutch Governor of Java was about to seize Singapore, Raffles determined to forestall him by taking peaceful possession of the island under an agreement with the Rajah of Johor.

The acquisition of Singapore has justified all the hopes of Sir Stamford Raffles. From small beginnings the island gradually became the entrepôt for the whole trade of Siam, the Malay Peninsula, and the Malay Archipelago. Singapore now stands eighth on the list of the world's great ports. Exclusive of native craft, nearly 11,000 vessels, with a burden of more than 12,000,000 tons, entered and cleared the harbour in 1904. Over fifty lines of ocean-going steamers use Singapore as a port of call, the normal amount of coal stored on the