U.S. ASSISTANCE FOR AUSTRALIA

Southland Times, Issue 24818, 10 August 1942, Page 5

U.S. ASSISTANCE FOR AUSTRALIA

NEW YORK ARGUMENT (Rec. 7.30 pm.) NEW YORK, Aug. 8. Australian. Press reactions, together with American correspondents dispatches from Australia on The New York World-Telegram editorial concerning aid to Australia are given wide publicity here, including the front page of The New York Times. Nevertheless, The New York World-Telegram has again published an editorial in the same tone. “Misunderstandings on the MacArthur front may cause trouble unless they are eliminated promptly,’ says The New York World-Telegram. At first the Australians thought they were being neglected. This was answered by granting their request for General MacArthur as their Com-mander-in-Chief and by giving them high priority in reinforcements and supplies, which would otherwise have gone to Russia and China and to our Hawaii-Midway-Aleutian line. Then General MacArthur had difficulty m getting his authorization. When Washington finally made up its mind it took New Zealand, a part of the Australian defence unit, from General MacArthur’s unified command and put that area under an admiral. JAPANESE OFFENSIVE “Now a new offensive has been started in the South Pacific, not by Genera l MacArthur, but by the Japanese. They grabbed Gona and Buna and rapidly drove towards Kokoda. As a result Mr Hughes charged that the Allied Command had bungled the situation. General MacArthur’s headquarters replied, denying that the enemy advance was important, and gave the significant explanation that with the enemy partly controlling the coast and sea-lanes it would have been impossible to defend an advanced position. The fact that the enemy is controlling the sealanes in that area after the Allied victory of the Coral Sea is disquieting. The division of responsibility between general MacArthur and the South Pacific naval command invites passing the buck. Meanwhile, many MacArthur supporters think he is being kept on ice down under when he should be in Washington as Allied generalissimo. If he is to stay in Australia they say he should be given reinforcements and authority for the grand counter-offen-sive he pledged. “We share the popular enthuiasm for .General MacArthur, but there is a grave danger in any demand for large reinforcements for his front. Last spring it received priority at the expense of other fronts. Now priority must go to the fronts against Germany in the air and in Russia, and against Japan in the Aleutians and China. At long last President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill are able to begin concentrating instead of scattering the Allied strength. There is very little chance of the South Pacific getting priorities now. Of course, General Macarthur knows this and as a good soldier he will make the best of it. In fairness to General MacArthur and to prevent further misunderstanding among our valiant Australian Allies the general’s critics and advocates also should know this and make the best of it.”

SPECIAL TREATMENT NOT SOUGHT

(Special Australian Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.)

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Aug. 9. Australia will not ask for more war equipment at the expense of China, Russia and the Middle East. The Prime Minister, Mr J. Curtin, in making this declaration, said Australia shared in common with other Allied nations a shortage of tanks, aeroplanes and ships. “We cannot expect to be placed in a special sanctuary while those associated with us are having their territories ravaged,” he said. He asked Australians not to be “squealers.” Australia was one of the bastions from which eventually an Allied offensive would be launched. There would be no limit to the offensive Australia would wage except the limit imposed by the shortage of war material.

Mr Curtin defended the High Command against charges of inaciion. He revealed that two divisions had returned from the Middle East. Mr Curtin said the allocations to ‘he South-west Pacific theatre of war were not as large as originally planned and he accepted full responsibility for that fact. Some equipment had not arrived because of shipping losses and other equipment had been diverted to places where it was more urgently needed.