CRITICISM OF AUSTRALIANS

Southland Times, Issue 24873, 13 October 1942, Page 5

CRITICISM OF AUSTRALIANS

ATTITUDE TOWARDS WAR (Special Australian Correspondent, N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, October 12. Criticism of the public’s “attitude of unreality” towards the war has been made in Australia. It was a disgrace, after the austerity appeal of the Prime Minister, Mr John Curtin, to see 74,000 persons at the Randwick races on Saturday, said Arthur Mailey, the international cricketer. The money spent at Randwick would have bought 50 planes. Organized sport in war-time should be confined to school-boys, declared Mailey. The nation should forget every game which took man-power and money from the war effort. Sport, however, should be encouraged among the troops and every available ground should be turned over to the fighting services. A bombing raid or two on the Australian capitals might be a lesson in disguise, said Mr H. J. Timperley, advisor to the Chinese National Government’s Board of Information. Comparing Australians’ attitude to the war with the stubborn heroism of the Chinese, Mr Timperley, who is himself an Australian, said that when he heard his well-fed countrymen complaining of a shortage of luxuries he thought of the millions in China living on the verge of starvation. Debates whether victory suits should have waistcoats made him remember that millions in China had scarcely a rag to their backs. “Our responsibility as Australians is to try to live up to the Chinese example of bravery and endurance, which has never been excelled in human history,” declared Mr Timperley.