We You Forgotten?’

Britain, and USA, and Pacific Defence Problem

A VALUED correspondent in Queensland does not take kindly to a recent suggestion in a PIM article that Australia now is com- I ing so strongly under United States I influence that Australia’s connec itions with Britain may be weakened land may ultimately collapse. Our I comment was made in view of the following facts: The most deadly danger to Aus tralia, and to all the countries of I the South Pacific, comes from Asia, where numerous countries, under 11 h e encouragement of Moscow I Communism and the stimulus of I growing nationalism, are strongly I asserting themselves against the I Europeans.

I As part of her plan for protect- I ing herself against this growingly I dangerous Asia, the United States lis steadily bringing the Pacific [ countries (Japan, Philippines, Aus- Itralia, New Zealand and all the b South Pacific Islands Territories) lunder her protection and direction. [ These Pacific countries, in view pf the danger from Asia, are will s' ingly accepting the protection and [ influence of the United States.

There is nothing surprising about r that.

As a natural corollary, the ties oi both the British and the French countries in the Pacific with their mother-countries are inclined to become weaker—because it is clear that, in the present condition of the world, Britain and France have got their hands fully occupied in building up their home defences against the power in Eastern Europe, and they have neither the time nor the material to spare for defend ing their Pacific Dominions and Territories. i As there has been some diverg ence of world strategy as between Britain and United States—the Americans wishing apparently to force the fundamental issue to the point of war, if necessary, while the British want to delay a conflict as long as possible, in the hope that the enslaved countries will yet rise against the Muscovite monster —the sympathies of Australia and New Zealand tend to go with the United States, and there has been criticism of the British Prime Minister and his policy.

This tendency, here, to drift away from and criticise our Mother country is sharply challenged by a respected correspondent in Queensland: and he lets himself go m these terms: “Have you forgotten the mag mficient achievements of Winson Churchill—how in 1940 that old

warrior practically alone had to lead his country against a nation of 80 millions, which was bent on war and conquest? Have you forgotten that Britain was not forced into war but that, of her own free will, she declared war on the Nazis be cause she was pledged by treaty to protect the freedom of Poland, which the Nazis had invaded?

“Have you forgotten that Britain, inferior in numbers and in arms and in warlike preparations, had not only to fight this terrifying combination of Germany and Italy, but also had to bolster up France and Belgium, where political condi tions were corrupt and rotten?

“Have you forgotten that when

France surrendered, and all Western r °Pe „ was over-run, this man Churchill insisted that Britain carry on alone, and never ceased by his oratory to keep up the spirit of his countrymen, although it did not seem possible that help would come from anywhere? Have you forgotten that Britain was fighting alone in Western Europe from May, 1940, when France surrendered, until the end of 1941, when the United States entered the war—and then only because USA was at tacked by Japan?

“We hear a great deal about the way in which the industrial strength and organisation of America won the war—and I do not for a

' moment challenge that argument.

' But have you forgotten the in credible achievements of the manu- Ifacturers of beleaguered Britain?

Have you forgotten, for example, how the Rolls Royce Co., of Derby, not only showed the Anglo-Ameri r can world how to build the Merlin vaero engine, but also paid for and built a whole town to accommodate American workmen, and paid the i cost of the removal? ! “Have you forgotten that, of all the casualties suffered by the Allies in World War 11, no less than 65 per cent, were casualties among the of the British Common t wealth? ; “I do not for one moment make any aspersions upon the war effort of the United States, which con tributed so much to victory. But I do contend that the prime factor in making that victory possible was the heroic stand of the United Kingdom, under the leadership of Winston Churchill —for if it had not been for that stand, World War II would have resulted in a tremend ous victory for the Berlin-Rome Axis, long before America could have got into action; and then probably America would have had to fight a Third World War against

the Berlin-Rome Tokio Axis, under very different conditions.

“Let us by all means join with the United States in protecting the Pacific countries and keeping the Asiatics at home; but in doing that let us insist also that Churchill’s England, as the head of our Com monwealth, shall be at least equal partners with the United States in all International developments, not only as our Motherland, but also as a due and proper acknowledge ment of her strength and spirit in those terrible early years of World War II.” t Papua-New Guinea’s first junior Red Cross training camp was held at Port Moresby in late August and early September.