SPECIAL MEETING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 January 1942, Page 3

SPECIAL MEETING

AUSTRALIAN CABINET & SERVICE HEADS MEASURES TO COUNTER ATTACK. WOMEN & CHILDREN TAKEN TO SAFETY. MELBOURNE, January 23. After a special meeting of the War Cabinet and Service heads, the Minister of the Army, Mr Forde, said the .Government was much concerned about the position, both in Malaya and in New Guinea. 1 As reports came to hand and views were exchanged with authorities overseas, Cabinet would review the military position and determine what measures could be taken in co-operation with Allied nations to counter the advance of the enemy. Mr Forde said he had received a cable from Major-Gen-eral Bennett, in Malaya, stating |hat very confused fighting was in progress in the area about Batu Pahat. More than 800 women and children 1 (a later message gives the total as 1,100) were evacuated from Rabaul to Australia in nine days by the fleet and civil air liners escorted by R.A.A.F. planes. In a number of cases aircraft carried record loads. One air liner which normally carries 21 passengers and a crew of three, transported 53 women and children in one flight. On one of the last flights an air liner arrived at Rabaul an hour after the Japanese had flown over. The liner was loaded quickly and left with a strong R.A.A.F. escort. Precautions to prevent typhus and other diseases being brought to Australia from war-stricken countries are being taken by Commonwealth authorities. One disease guarded against is so-called Malayan typhus, or Japanese river fever. Close medical inspection and quarantine precautions are being taken in regard to soldiers returning from abroad, war prisoners sent to Australia and evacuees.