URGENT MESSAGES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 January 1942, Page 3

URGENT MESSAGES

SENT TO BRITAIN & U.S.A. NEED OF REINFORCEMENTS EMPHASISED. VIEWS OF ARMY MINISTER. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) MELBOURNE, January 24. Emphatic cables emphasising the urgent need for assistance were sent to President Roosevelt and Mr Churchill at the conclusion of an emergency meeting of Australia’s War Cabinet late last night. Statements to which the utmost significance can be attached were issued by the Minister of External Affairs, Dr. Evatt, ,and the Minister of Supply, Mr Beasley, emphasising the need for Pacific reinforcements. Dr. Evatt said that Malaya was not* a sideshow, but a primary and vital struggle between the democracies and all three Axis Powers, and the demand for the maximum Allied defence in Malaya and the East Indies was based on a broad and realistic view of the war. A FIGHT FOR THE EMPIRE. Mr Beasley said the fight in the Pacific was a fight for the continuance of the British Empire, and that the people of Britain must look the Empire squarely in the face. The British Government was deluding itself if it failed to see that the Battle of the Pacific was the Battle of the (Atlantic, too.

It is stated on the highest authority that the gravity of events in the Pacific and the urgency of the need for reinforcements of all types could not be over-emphasised. Mr Forde said that the next enemy stroke might well be an attempt on the mainland of Australia itself. “I am certain that the enemy will make an attack,” he said. "Perhaps not at once, but make it he will. We are ready. We will never surrender. We cannot delude ourselves about the future. We will have to fight as Australians have never fought before'for our very existence.” Mr Forde, in a national broadcast, made a plea for Allied reinforcement of Malaya. ASSURANCE OF VICTORY.

In a general statement on the position, Mr Forde said that though Australia was facing a more serious threat today than ever in history there must be no form of panic or defeatism, but only firm determination to fight the enemy and throw him. "We might suffer temporary reverses,” he said, “but undoubtedly, with the assistance of our allies, we will clear the seas and land of the Japanese menace and win through to victory. “Australians must face the cold, hard fact that the enemy is hammering at our gates and endeavouring to gain a foothold with the avowed intention of invading our land. “General Tojo, the Japanese Prime Minister, said this week that we should receive no mercy if we resisted. Resist we will, and fight back to the utmost of our capacity. “We are not intimidated by Japanese threats, or intimidated by the successes which the Japanese have gained, so far. People can play their parts, steadfastly carrying on their tasks and calmly carrying out whatever instructions are issued by the Government.” Mr Curtin, interviewed at Kalgoorlie, said that Australia will in no circumstances surrender to Japan. The only Australian who would co-operate with Japan would be a dead Australian.

He spurned General Tojo’s request to Australia to co-operate with Japan and so avoid destruction. '‘There can be no though of co-operation with aggression,” he said.