WAR CABINET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 August 1941, Page 5

WAR CABINET

IMPORTANT DECISIONS ANTICIPATED QUESTION OF OVERSEA REPRESENTATION. OPINION IN LONDON. ißy Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. August. 20. The “ Daily Mail.’’ in a leader, says: “The peoples of Australia. Canada. Now Zealand, and South Africa are notv as directly concerned for their own safety as are Britons. They are, therefore, entitled to direct participation in the general direction of the war. The appointment of Air Menzies in the inner War Cabinet would generally be welcomed here as an addition to its strength.’’

The “Daily Express." after referring to the presence of Mr Fraser, Mr Mackenzie King, the Canadian Prime Minister, who arrived by air yesterday, and the imminent arrival of Lord Halifax, says: “Plainly big decisions are to be taken on how and where the Empire power will strike. Mr Menzies is one of the ablest of the Empire statesmen and has to devote to the Australian Opposition the attention which should be concentrated against the Axis." . Mr Mackenzie King has come to England at the invitation of the Government, and will attend meetings of the War Cabinet. According to an official statement in Ottawa, he will be away from Canada for several weeks. His visit to Britain was arranged some time ago, but was postponed till after the meeting of President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill, which he helped to plan. This was the first occasion on which a Canadian Prime Minister has crossed the Atlantic by air, and it was also Mr Mackenzie King's first trip in a plane. He was greeted by Mr Vincent Massey, Canadian High Commissioner, and by British naval, military, and Air Force representatives. Among his party are the Canadian Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs and the Canadian Minister in Paris at the time of the French collapse. The latter' is a member of the Canadian section of the United StatesCanadian Joint Defence Board. AUSTRALIAN DEADLOCK

LABOUR PARTY VIEW. PRIME MINISTER SHOULD STAY AT HOME. CANBERRA. August 21. The Labour Party at a two-hour meeting today rejected the proposal that Mr Menzies should go to London as Prime Minister in the British War Cabinet. The party’s resolution emphasised that the gravity of the war situation made it essential that the Prime Minister should remain in the Commonwealth to organise a total war effort. At the same time it urged that arrangements be made with the British Government for Australian representation in London in order to ensure that the Australian viewpoint on the war policy should be constantly before the British Cabinet. Only three members of the party dissented from the resolution.

Earlier a joint meeting of the United Australia and United Country Parties overwhelmingly endorsed Cabinet's proposal that, the Prime Minister should go to London as Prime Minister.

FOR & AGAINST

DEBATE IN FEDERAL HOUSE. SAFETY OF AUSTRALIA AT STAKE. CANBERRA, August 21. Explaining why the Labour Party voted against Mr Menzies’s departure to London the leader, Mr Curtin, in a dramatic speech in the House of Representatives said that the Prime Minister had so much vital work to do here that presentation of the Commonwealth’s views to the British War Cabinet would have to be left to someone else. “We are as badly off as we have ever been since the collapse of France, because the campaign which Germany is waging is being carried on with vast forces over a wide area,” said Mr Curtin. Australia’s defence was not practicable by Australia fighting alone, he continued, and he declared in a stirring appeal that the war preparations of this country should be raised to the highest point of efficiency. “We ask the British Government to accept a representative of Australia —not the one the British Government would choose, but the one the Australian Government would select.” The Minister of the Navy. Mr Hughes, speaking with all his old-time vigour, defended Mr Menzies. He described him as the very man who should go tp London and added that if he could not be spared from Australia because of the gravity of the situation then obviously he could not be spared from London, where Australia's fate would be decided. Parliament was discussing the safety of Australia, -and the question of Mr Menzies’ departure transcended party and all other considerations.