AUSTRALIA’S OUTLOOK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 March 1940, Page 5

AUSTRALIA’S OUTLOOK

UNFORCED RELATIONSHIP WITH BRITAIN SPEECH BY MR CASEY IN WASHINGTON. REAL CENTRE OF GRAVITY MN EUROPE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day, 11.10 a.m.) WASHINGTON. March 12. At a Press Club luncheon, Mr R. G, Casey (Australian Minister) answered confidentially questions relating to trade, shipping and labour affairs, and mutual interests in the Pacific, emphasising that Australia's powers of selfgovernment were unlimited. He observed that it was reasonable to suppose that if Britain had not broken her teeth on the American colonies, she would not have acquired the wisdom and tolerance consistently shown in her dealings with Australia. "Our only link with Britain resides in a continued acceptance of the Crown,” Mr Casey observed. “Although we are not subjected to coercion eleven suggestion from Britain, we willingly and voluntarily co-operate with the British Commonwealth of Nations, which is wholly different from the conception of the old British Empire.” Australia had entered the war of hetown accord and was now dominated by the common cause with Britain, he added. Australia had never believed that the centre of gravity was moving towards the Pacific. The centre of real gravity was Europe. “We see no reason to believe that the Pacific will be a cockpit of war in our time,” Mr Casey stated. The Senate authorised funds for a Minister to Australia for the remainder of the year ending, in June. The House of Representatives approved a similar measure, but technicalities require reapproval.