Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1941. THE ASSURANCE OF VICTORY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 January 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1941. THE ASSURANCE OF VICTORY.

WHILE he was careful, in his; speech ai Glasgow, to hold out no hopes of early victory, Mr Churchill declared his lull confidence that the Axis Powers eventually would be overthrown. “I have absolutely no doubt, he said, that we will win a complete and a decisive victory over the forces oi evil. At home and abroad this declaration will carry the more weight as coming from the statesman who was not afraid to proclaim and emphasise the deadly dangers by which the British nation was confronted little more than six months ago and to tell the people to whom he spoke in that dark hour that he had nothing to offer them but “blood and tod and (ears and sweat.

At Glasgow, Mr Churchill spoke of months oi endurance and suffering that must yet be faced, but he sei just emphasis also on the fact that: "If Hitler found invasion difficult in •July and more difficult in September, it will not be easier in February, .March or April.” The most vital point of all that was made by the British Prime Minister was that: "It is lor Hitler a matter of supreme importance to break down the resistance of Britain and thus rivet effectively the shackles he has prepared for the people of Europe."

X’o doubt it is right that the urgency of the Nazi need, thus justly emphasised, should be regarded primarily in Britain as demanding all possible preparations to withstand and defeat invasion. As Mr Churchill has stated, however. Britain is verv much better placed to smash a Nazi invasion than she was only a few months ago, and while that fact justifies firm British confidence, it is calculated also to carry dread ami despair into the camp of the Nazis. Britain, with her Empire partners and allies, relies for ultimate victory upon positive effort and the inspiring consciousness of a just cause. Some interest and importance nevertheless attaches to the question of how long the Nazi State will be able to stand up to the stress of war when once the knowledge of inevitable coming defeat is shared mutually by its oligarchy of gangsters and by the masses over whom they exercise a brutal and tyrannical rule. In both its upper and subordinate circles, the Nazi Party is a combination of fanatics and of deliberately unscrupulous and criminal adventurers. What is likely to happen to a combination of that kind when all hope of victory has vanished finally and nothing* is left but the certainty of overwhelming ultimate defeat ? JAPAN’S DRIFT TO DISASTER. JN all her recent policy, Japan has acted as a nation intent on extending the aggression in which she is already engaged, and gambling on the victory of the European aggressors with whom she is allied. Even among the influential and privileged classes of Japan, however—not to speak of the masses of the population—there must be many who are well able to perceive that the policy dictated and imposed by militarist factions is not only morally indefensible, but from a purely material standpoint promises to work out in disaster. Any Japanese leaders who now believe that the Axis Powers are likely to win the war must be either blinded by prejudice and desire or strangely ill-informed. That being so, if iniist bo hoped that tin* aborts the Nazis are now reported to be making to secure the free use ol .Japanese ports and naval bases for the refuelling and supply of German commerce raiders in the Pacilic will fail. 'I he position as it stands needs clearing up. There is already much to suggest that some facilities have been granted to tierman raiders in Japan or in Japanese mandated islands in the Pacific. One of yesterday s cablegrams from New A ork suggested that a central wireless station for the guidance of the raiders has been established either in Japanese mandated territory or close to it. and there have been other reports to a similar effect. Some allowance should perhaps be made lor the possibility that the Nazis are intriguing and conspiring in this matter to jockey Japan into a position she would not, lor obvious reasons of prudence, take up willingly, li is plainly incumbent on Japan, however, to see to it that base taeilities .arc not atlordcd to German commerce raiders in cither her home or her mandated territories. The Nazis, ot' course, are eager to sec Japan involved in war with both the P.ritiMi Empire and the 1 idled States. Ini! whatever elements ol sanity still exist in Japan will be averse to making this tinal and fatal plunge. (hie view of the situation as h stands is that the British Empire and the Cnited States have pandered foolishly to Japan and have hi elleet encouraged her to persevere m a policy <>| aggression and menace. Thai view has lierti expressed in strong terms by Mr \\ . 11. Donald, a former Australian journalist who is now adviser to Generalissimo I’hiang Kai-shek, after having served in a similar capacitv under a niimlicr of earlier rulers of ('hum. Maintaining that Japan has lauded herself m a bog of despair in her invasion of China, and ilia! their ultimate defeat ill that country is assured, Mr It.uiald bitterly ,-rit ieis.J British policy in the Ear East am! observed that though the Japanese had defied international laws and behaved v, i!h inhumanity, th*- Australian ami New Ze;.kind (h>v<:iim*ul.s w*:v trading v. .th Japan anil sending her things to be used against China Alt!? ;rh Japan had joined Britain's em-nm-. Austral.a ■•■nt an ami.ias-r -to take hold of her blood-soaked hand " But it had not been for the stand China had made at such cost. Japan Would ere now have carried out her programme of southward exp.m-a- •; to these lands Although much of our former trade with Japan has ii.-i-n riit off. it is perhaps impossible !<>r Australia and New saltsfac!orily to rebut this indictment. It is true that the lati tilde and tobralion extended to Japan by both the Britmli Empire and the l’in!<-ii .''tales ha\<- L<-«-n dictated in great pain by a belief that s,,on<-r or later mote m<..|.-ra?r J a pane 1.-moi : . will gain the upper hand .and •.•.ill reverse the brutal policy predatory aggression in which their country i> meantime engaged -a policy it has extended in recent times Eremdi Imlod hina and is threatening to extend further It has to tn- a<lmi ‘te<l, however, that m spile •>• *;■,• mdi’.irv am! economic straits to which Japan is reduced, there is indication al present that she inclined !•• abandon t|m policy of aggression. There arc reports of widespread mmgi\ im/s .nd tears <>! national ruin ami disaster, but a -.•,•, eepmg r--•»«* 111;; •-i i presumably is needed to reverse tlm pres.-nt course •!.' po|wv ami it has \<-t to appear that any iipliea •> a i of tin- I. >, I is likely. The iptestiotis m>w rai'o-d v.ilh regard • ■ .. Japan fails to enfor-e amt upheld in!rrmi t ron.-J • '.■ ■■ these raider, .ree enneerned. piatii * ;>!••!>.-e ;• ill h*- jg,,i ••.. • miktarists are still ;n Indy • ■/:'•■■ '. •■ e.mtrm ■•[ '!■•• m ' ti.c Hughs' sp'-ai; <••:>. r.i. '---