APPROVAL IN BRITAIN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 August 1940, Page 5

APPROVAL IN BRITAIN

UNITED STATES=CANADA AGREEMENT

NOT AN ISOLATED MOVE.

LINK WITH PLANS OF COMMON CONCERN.

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 19. The agreement to set up a permanent joint board on defence by the United States and Canada has been warmly welcomed in the Press here.

“The Times” regards the decision as of far-reaching importance. It notes that this is not an isolated move. It 1 links up with other plans of common concern to the United States, and to all the peoples of the Empire. Further south, a vital part will be played by the Panama Canal, and it is not surprising that the United States is anxious to establish naval and air bases in convenient positions to protect the canal against hostile interference. It has been suggested that the American Government might have the use of areas suitable for this purpose in the British West Indies, remarks “The Times.” Britain, and, indeed, the whole Empire, are deeply interested in seeing that the canal is kept open under American protection to interna—tional trade, and the suggestion, therefore, has been received sympathetically in this country. ACTION IN CANADA APPOINTMENT OF MILITARY ATTACHE. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) OTTAWA, August 20. The Government has announced the appointment of Colonel Arthur Letson, Vancouver, to be the Canadian Military Attache in Washington. JAPANESE VIEW STEP BY UNITED STATES TOWARDS WAR. TOKIO, August 19. The vernacular Press has generally interpreted the agreement by President Roosevelt and Mr Mackenzie King as a further step by the United States toward participation in the European war. The “Asahi Snimbun” says the United States has already stepped into the whirlpool of the European war. The “Hochi Shimbun” says President Roosevelt’s action is primarily aimed to protect the Monroe Doctrine but can be interpreted as a scheme simultaneously intended to induce Canada to join the United States and apply pressure on Japan.

SOME IMPLICATIONS OF INTEREST TO AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND. FEDERAL MINISTER'S COMMENT. (Received This Day, 9 a.m.) (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) CANBERRA, This Day. The decision of the United States and Canada to set up a Joint Defence Board has most interesting implications in Australia and New Zealand, declared the Minister of External Affairs. Mr J. McEwen, in the House of Representatives. He pointed out that for the first time in history a power engaged in a major war is associated with a neutral country in this manner. The past two months, Mr McEwen added, had brought home to the people and the Administration of the United States that the defence of that country and the defence of the whole of the Americas could not be regarded on a basis of insularity.