AN OUTSPOKEN GENERAL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 181, 17 November 1941, Page 4

AN OUTSPOKEN GENERAL

GENERAL BLAMEY in his open critiqism of the carnival jlife of the average Australian in the face of the threat which is developing day by day in the East, gives a timely and welcome expression of fact. Here, at last is an honest soldier's opinion,.straight from the shoulder and calculated to make even the most languid of his audience sit up and blink. The same remarks, though in a lesser degree may be applied to the..average person in New Zealand. Here at least we have introduced conscription, and are fast setting about the matter of internal organisation and defence. Not before time, we admit, but nevertheless, from what we hear —well in advance, of our cousins across the Tasman. General Blarney, however has a message for all of us. The inevitable struggle next Spring' he mentions applies in a broad sense to those months succeeding Christmas, perhaps March or April. How aan the exact date be foretold. In any case the Military Authorities are apparently preparing for the crucial struggle which will take place at approximately that time. The same statement was mad« by the Hon. Winston Churchill in his broadcast six weeks ago; now it is borne out by the Commander of the A.I.F. Complacency, borne of distance, born of contempt by virtue of the perpetual broadcasts which reel off the progress of the war as though it was an interesting newsreel serial promoted for the entertainment and edification of those who listen in; borne also of two and a half years of comparative inactivity; this is our greatest and most paralysing weakness to-day. We need more of the unvarnished, truth. It is high time that we ripped off the trappings of polite conversation and got down to cold, hard facts. As a Democracy it still remains our right and our prerogative to have it so. The Japanese: situation, growing uglier day by day is not likely'to mend as a result of the Neutrality Act Repeal by the United States Congress. Rather in view of the militaristic clique now in power in Tokyo, we can expect a belligerent reaction which will disregard all reason, for the Japanese have never known mortification of defeat in their long Imperial history. Yet, according to the greatest Australian soldier, Sydney, Melbourne and other State, capitals continue to foster a life of Carnival and gaiety. The lands of the Pacific should be pre paring to the utmost, not to necessarily fight an inevitable invader, but to safeguard against that terrible possibility by displaying a bolcl united front which will make an in vad,er hesitate before hazarding such a questionable operation. Briefly, that is General Blarney's message, every fit man a soldier, every fit woman attached to and prepared for emerjJbncy duties. The Pacific may in the. near future bely its name.