LOCKED IN DEATH GRIP

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 244, 16 October 1942, Page 3

LOCKED IN DEATH GRIP

THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD JAPAN'S EASY CONQUESTS. DAY UP RETRIBUTION APFROACHING. The third anniversary, a few weeks ago, of the outbreak of war, had found the nations of the world mere closely locked ;n the death-grip than ever, said the M.A.A.'s president (Mr R. P. Furness) in summarising the war situation in the course of his address at yesterday's annual meeting. Last December another nation, Japan — prompted, as Italy had been, by the lure of easy conquests— had made a characteristically treacherous entry into the struggle by attackmg the United States while the diplomats of both countries were still arguing about peace. "And easy conquests Japan's first few months as a combatant eertainly broughc her, for she quickly overran the almost defenceless British and Dutch posstu • sions in the Eastern Archipelago, thereby, incidentally, rofobing New Zealand of its main source of motor spirit, and the United Nations of almost their only source of rubber," he proceeded. After a timo, as they knew, the position had become more stabilised with the arrival of Allied reinforcements, but as a result of their lightning drive the Japanese had installed themselves in territories uncomfortably close to Australia and New Zealand, and it would become tne duty of our soidiers, sailors and airmen to help to drive them out and back to the place whence they came. '■The war, a,s I say, has taken on an even grimmer aspect than ii displayed at rhis timo last year," added Mr Furness. "More and more countries are: being forced to resort to arms against the barbarous treatment meted out to themselves and their nationals by the Axis Powers, which, by virtue of the long start they gained in the last decade by working foi" war while other nations were busily cultivating the arts of peace, have hardly yet begun to feel the impact of the United Nations' might. The day is approaching, however. when that might will be loosed and given full rein, and from then onwards the struggle will, I think, move rapidly to its inevitable end — the crushing into the cust of the aggressor Powers. "Before that day dawns, however, we may be cailed upon in these islands to. resist attack. There should surelv be no need for anyone to speculate on what the result; of a clash between a country whose people are described as; 'more British than the British,' and any invading force would be. We have a shining example in the exploits of our sons and brothers overseas. We would not, God helping us, let them down." V