FIRST LORD’S REGRET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 December 1941, Page 5

FIRST LORD’S REGRET

JAPAN ON BRINK OF TRAGIC BLUNDER MISLED BY MILITARISTS. NAVAL REINFORCEMENTS SENT TO FAR EAST. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 29. Referring to the Far East situation in a speech, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr Alexander, said: “We see our old ally Japan trembling on the brink of a tragic blunder.

“Her leaders,” he added, “say she is at the crossroads, but who has led her to such a fateful pass? The goodwill and co-operation of the United States and ourselves have always been at the disposal of the rulers of Japan along paths of reason and peace. It is her militarists who have led her to her present grave predicament. “I 1 believe that many wise and foresighted men in Japan see the ruin which is at the end of one of the roads confronting her,” Mr Alexander’ said. “I believe that some of her leaders will give wiser counsel than to plunge into the rapids. Let me recall to them the recent words of Mr Churchill, in which he spoke of his long-standing sincere regard for Japan, though he had to declare that should Japan force war upon America our own declaration would follow within the hour, and that we now found it possible to send naval reinforcements to the Far East.”