MACARTHUR’S FUTURE

Southland Times, Issue 24890, 2 November 1942, Page 5

MACARTHUR’S FUTURE

PAPERS PREDICT RETURN TO U.S.

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

(Rec. 9.35 p.m.) SYDNEY, Nov. 1. General Douglas MacArthur’s

recall from Australia to Wash-

ington for an important war conference is forecast by The New York Herald Tribune and The

Washington Times-Herald. Both papers hint that his return may

be permanent. “It is debatable whether General MacArthur’s abilities are put to the best use in his present command 01whether he should be stationed at the centre of things in Washington,” says The New York Herald Tribune.

The Christian Science Monitor, describing General MacArthur’s recent declaration praising Australia’s war effort as “most unusual,” says that it is almost certainly bound to provoke some decisive action in the control of the South-West Pacific war. The paper also declares that the idea that the United States carries most of the war burden there is incorrect and that the foundation of Australia’s defence is still primarily her own soldiers and workers. AUSTRALIAN WAR EFFORT

W. E. Lucas, The Christian Science Monitor’s war correspondent in Australia, writes: “Hanson Baldwin’s charge that the attitude of Australian Labour has caused the major burden of the war to fall on Americans is

more ill-founded than General MacArthur’s remark that no nation is making a more supreme war effort than Australia, but the truth lies between the two. Australia has made remarkable strides in war-time economy, but there is still much slack and some quarters do not realize the meaning of total war. There are still sections of employers and employees who regard the national crisis as a bargaining counter. But these things, though exaggerated by interested parties, play a relatively small part in the war activities.”

“What General MacArthur ought to have is not supreme command in the South-west Pacific, but more say in what goes on down there,” comments Raymond Gram Swing, the noted American news anlayst. Mi- Swing invites those who believe that General MacArthur rather than Vice-Admiral Robert L. Ghormley should have had command of the Solomons operations to admit that had the campaign been an unqualified success there would have been little talk of a unified command. “If General MacArthur had been commander he would have had to put a senior naval officer in charge 1 of the campaign,” observes Mr Swing. “That officer probably would have been Vice-Admiral Ghormley and so the question reduces itself not to one of unified command, but of getting the right man for the particular job.” AUSTRALIAN ATTITUDE Glasgow Paper’s Criticism (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, October 31. “Australian and American relations are now on a more realistic basis than in the first happy flash of their war association, when the Australians thought America was going to give them, all the troops and supplies Britain was unable to provide and something extra as well,” states The Glasgow Herald in a leading article on the recent criticism of the conduct of the Pacific war by Australia. “In addition to being disappointed that supplies from the United States are too small to make the Pacific a major offensive zone, Australia is divided by its own often bitter political controversies, which are a luxury neither side is willing to abandon, even in the middle of the war.. It is all very regrettable and not particularly helpful. There is nothing in the offing likely to bring a fuller sense of realism into Australian politics, unless it is the prospect of a major set-back in the Pacific.”

AIR RAIDS ON BURMA DAMAGE TO AERODROMES (8.0.W.) RUGBY, Oct. 31. More Allied air attacks in Burma are reported in the following New Delhi communique:— “Blenheim bombers yesterday attacked Japanese aerodromes in Burma. Two separate formations carried out the raids, scoring hits on runways and buildings and starting fires. One enemy fighter - was destroyed and several were damaged. In the Japanese air attack on Assam on Monday it is now known that besides one fighter - shot down by Americans another - was brought down by British anti-aircraft fire.