CRITICISM OF AUSTRALIA

Southland Times, Issue 24886, 28 October 1942, Page 5

CRITICISM OF AUSTRALIA

SPIRITED REPLY BY DR EVATT (Rec. Midnight) SYDNEY, Oct. 27. “Never on any occasion has the Australian Government interfered in any way with General MacArthur’s supreme command,” declared the Attorney-General, Dr H. V. Evatt, in a spirited reply to Hanson Baldwin, military writer of The New York Times. Mr Baldwin complained that the Australian War Cabinet and War Council had hampered General MacArthur, that Australian workmen were not pulling their weight and that what had been done in Australia was entirely due to the United States. “Mr Baldwin’s labour-baiting comments on the Australian war effort are inaccurate and intemperate,” said Dr Evatt. “He never visited Australia and his sources of information were sec-end-hand and seem to have been confined to persons who, having failed in Australia, have returned to America and to one or two Australian newspapers, who are fast becoming notorious for belittling everything the Curtin Government has done. No responsible authority who knows all the facts would concur in Mr Baldwin’s criticisms, which are calculated to prejudice the already difficult task of General MacArthur’s supreme command. EFFORT ACCELERATED

“By almost common consent the war effort of the Australian people has been greatly accelerated and intensified by the Curtin Government during the past 12 months. To call this Government complacent is a false and reckless assertion.

“Mr Baldwin refers inaccurately to General MacArthur. He is in supreme command and never on any occasion whatever has he been subjected to any direction for control from the War Cabinet or the War Council in respect to military, naval and air matters.

“The almost miraculous development in our construction of runways and roads is due entirely to Australian workers under Australian direction.. Admittedly difficulties have occurred in stevedoring and shipping, but these have been grossly exaggerated. On the whole the workers have done splendidly. “GROSS INGRATITUDE” “This belittling of Australia displays gross ingratitude. Australia is most grateful to the United States for all that has been done, although Britain also has helped us greatly, but the United States will be equally grateful for what this country has done in the cause of the United Nations—in nearly every theatre of war.

“It is a great pity that a few American writers tend to impair the solidarity between the United States and Australian fighting forces, which is so evident in Australia and New Guinea.”

NO CONSCRIPTION IN AUSTRALIA

Government Refuses Demand

(Rec. 7 p.m.) CANBERRA, Oct. 27. Conscription for overseas service was neither necessary nor justified in Australia at the present time, declared Mr F. M. Forde, Minister of the Army. He was replying to a demand by Mr A. W. Fadden, Leader of the Opposition, for merging the Australian Imperial Force and the militia into one army. “I cannot give the number of men in the Australian Imperial Force (Australia’s volunteer force for overseas service) for reasons of security, but I can say we have a very large force and members of the militia (the conscripted force for service within Australia and in Australian-mandated territories, including New Guinea) are voluntarily transferring to the Australian Imperial Force,” said Mr Forde. “In other words, with the changed position following Japan’s entry into the war, there is less need for conscription for overseas service today than at any previous time.”

OWEN GUN INVENTOR PAYMENT FOR ROYALTIES (Rec. 7 p.m.) CANBERRA, October 27. An immediate advance payment on account of royalties is to be made to Mr Evelyn Owen, inventor of the Owen sub-machine-gun, the Minister of the Army, Mr F. M. Forde, has announced. The Government’s decision follows a complaint by Mr V. A. Wardell, manager of the factory where the guns are made, that although the guns were being produced in quantity insufficient advantage was being taken of them by the Army and also a statement by Mr Owen that to date he had received no payment for his invention. Everything possible was being done to expedite the manufacture of Owen guns and their delivery to the Army, said Mr Forde, who declared that the Army’s sole concern was to place the best available weapons in the hands of theh troops. Operational requirements relative to the merits of particular weapons in view of circumstances at specified places and the training the troops had received with various weapons were all factors governing the decisions on weapons to be used. RAIDS ON HONG KONG Japanese Lose Heavily NEW YORK, October 26.

Two heavy raids in succession have been made on Hong Kong by American bombers and the Japanese have lost heavily in planes. Twenty-eight enemy machines have certainly been shot down and 10 have probably been shot down.

The first raid was made on Sunday when ships, docks and warehouses were hit and many fires were started both on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon by 20 tons of bombs. Ten enemy fighters were shot down and five were probably destroyed. One American bomber failed to return. One fighter was forced down in Chinese territory. It was followed by a second attack on Monday morning, according to a communique issued by LieutenantGeneral Joseph W. Stilwell, who commands the American forces in China. In this raid the airfield near the city was bombed and Hong Kong’s only power station was destroyed. Eighteen Japanese intercepting planes were shot down and five others were probably destroyed. One American pilot was slightly injured and his aircraft made a forced landing on Chinese territory. Nc American planes were lost. The Associated Press of America correspondent in Chungking says that Sunday’s raid on Hong Kong caught the Japanese napping. The last bomb racks had been emptied before the Japanese fighters challenged the bombers. There was a hot time for a few minutes when Zeros swarmed towards the bombers, but the American fighters soon scattered the enemy. Destroyers in the harbour received a direct hit in the second raid in which new fires were added to Sunday’s devastating assault.

The news of these blows has been greeted with great rejoicing in Chungking, as indicating that a big American aerial offensive has begun.