BRITAIN PRAISED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1940, Page 5

BRITAIN PRAISED

BY MR WENDELL WILLKIE HEROIC PART IN DEFENCE OF DEMOCRACY. ADVOCACY OF INCREASED AID. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, October 18. The Republican Presidential candidate, Mr Wendell Willkie, in a speech at St. Louis said: “Britain is a heroine. The British people stand between America’s free institutions and the barbaric philosophy of slavery to the State. As we stand here looking eastward and westward we find the British people living on the rim of our freedom] The reinforcement of that rim can be accomplished only by production.” Mr Willkie said America had contributed to the present world crisis as the result of the New Deal. America did not possess the things Britain needed and had no capacity to make those things. “We are faced with the awful choice of whether to supply Britain or ourselves first,” he said. He favoured aiding Britain at some sacrifice of their own defence programme. He characterised Mr Churchill as the most courageous and far-sighted statesman in the world. POWER DEVELOPMENT BEARING ON THE DEFENCE PROGRAMME. AMBASSADOR ON ARMAMENT PRODUCTION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, October 17. President Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress on the necessity of hydro-electric power from the St. Lawrence River for the joint United States-Canadian defence programme. Emphasising the need for the development of power, he informed Congress that he had appointed an advisory committee to go into the preliminary work. The development of the St. Lawrence power scheme was an essential part of the programme of continental defence, particularly for munitions. He emphasized that preliminary investigations must be undertaken immediately. A message from Lord Lothian, the British Ambassador in Washington, was read last night to members of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts. It called on the United States to develop armament production as fast as possible, and pointed out that the way to keep bombs from American cities and towns was' to equip the peoples of the British Commonwealth so that they can hold the great ring of key points of the Empire which control the sea.