NEWS FROM THE PACIFIC

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 14, 12 October 1943, Page 4

NEWS FROM THE PACIFIC

It is to be hoped that the establishment of an adequate official news service from the headquarters of the New Zealand Pacific Division will not be long delayed. On September 28 the Prime Minister announced that our troops had moved to a “forward area, and that “bombing had constituted their first contact with the enemy. The latter part of this brief statement was news to the public, but the story of the move into the Solomons had already been .told to parents and relatives of our men in letters home. It seemed extraordinary that the official announcement had to be delayed so long that private letters were ahead of it. On Friday last (October 8) the Minister of Defence made it known that New Zealand troops bad been in action against the Japanese and had suffered certain casualties. With that the blanket descended again, and, up to the moment ot writing, no further information is to hand. All that has been allowed to come direct to the public from Guadalcanal are a few descriptive accounts, most of them written some time ago, of special training for the move, together with details of the landing operations and complimentary references to our troops by Allied commanders. The public will expect much more than this, and. within reasonable considerations of security, much more should be given—with much greater celenty. Australia is receiving a splendid official news service from New Guinea, a service which undoubtedly has stirred and inspired the public. 1 lie people of this country will look for similar enlightenment, and will not be satisfied with a scries of colourless ministerial announcements, which by their brevity and ambiguity, are calculated to cause speculation and rumour. .