EMPIRE EFFORT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20114, 7 December 1939, Page 5

EMPIRE EFFORT

DOMINION’S PART j CRITICS CONFOUNDED NAZI MISCALCULATION STRENGTH FROM FREEDOM | i HOME PRESS REVIEW | (F.lco. Tel. Copyright—-United Press Assn..i (British Official Wireless ) Reed. 12 noon RUGBY, Dec. 6. German miscalculations of the Empire attitude to the war are the subject of comment by the Mnnehcstfcr Guardian. After signing the Statute of Westminster in 1931, under which, in all but common allegiance to the Crown, the Dominions were separate peoples, it was, supposed, says the Guardian, that “it needed only a situation in which on an issue vital to the commonwealth the King was given conflicting advice in the different Dominions for the whole illogical system to fall to bits. That situation, it was moreover asserted, would arise as soon as Britain, with her European entanglements, became involved in a war in which her sister nations could disinterest themselves. “Canada would naturally embrace the neutrality of her great neighbour. Australia, with her eye on the Pacific, would make no effort that lessened her capacity to deal with her own problems. South Africa with her own difficulties of race and colour, would withhold her aid. Wishful Nazi Thinking“At the best, it would be a peaceful parting. At the worst, as conjured by the wishful thinking of Nazi prophecy, revolt would be rife from the Indian Ocean to the Irish shores, and our hands would be crippled by the need for dealing with our own disorders. “In the upshot, the complete freedom of the Dominions themselves has proved the surest guarantee of their comradeship in the fight to restore freedom. In nothing has German calculation been more signally stultified than in the belief that the nations of the British commonwealth, which, more perhaps than any peoples, hold free institutions dear, would be moved by selfishness to apathy if a challenge to freedom had to be met in arms. Concerted Steps Taken “The sum total of the answer to that challenge 'is -not yet to Ibe measured, but several wise and concerted steps have been taken.” In this connection the Guardian says that the speedy meeing in London of Empire representatives made it possible to envisage the part each can play, and, reviewing the contribution of the Dominions, it notes that victory will not come from a mere concentration of power. While assuring the heartiest welcome to the Canadian and Australian troops who, before long, will join the Western Front, the Guardian emphasises the importance of the Dominions’ agricultural products and mineral wealth, and says that the selection of Canada as an air training ground, with an estimated alternate capacity for training 25,000 men annually, mby prove a decisive factor in the war. The full value of the Dominions’ help will be felt only with the passage of time, buit it is better organised now than in 19.14.