“BIG THINGS MOVING”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1942, Page 3

“BIG THINGS MOVING”

PROBLEMS OF DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA DISCUSSION IN WASHINGTON. MINISTER ON SATISFACTORY DAY. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 3. The Australian Minister to Washington, Mr Casey, conferred with the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr Welles, and handed him a message from the Prime Minister, Mr Curtin, to President Rooseevlt. He also conferred with the British Ambassador, Lord Halifax, the British military adviser, Sir John Dill, and the Secretary of War, Mr Stimson. Mr Casey stressed the urgency of Australia’s present problems, and met with a sympathetic response. In a subsequent interview with the Australian Associated Press, he said, “Big things are moving, about which I cannot at present speak, for reasons of security; but I feel I have had a very satisfactory day indeed for Australia.” Mr C. Hartley Grattan, in the "Liberty Magazine,” writing on the subject “How Vulnerable is Australia?” recounts how a Japanese prince when stimulated by American liquor, divulged: “We Japanese have it all figured out just what we want, including Malaya and the Dutch Indies, but we are up against a problem: Shall we turn west to Burma, or south to Australia?” Mr Grattan says: “The choice is no longer with the Japanese. Like every adventurer, Japan must knock out all her opponents. Moreover, Australia is a collaborator with the United States in the Pacific war, and Australia is almost certainly going to be a base for American operations in the Pacific. Every reverse in south-east Asia will increase Australia’s importance, and the Japanese can have no peace while Australia stands firm. That she shall stand firm is now an American interest of the first importance.” Mr Grattan favourably outlines what Australia has to offer, and says: “Few Americans understand the strength and extent of Australian industry. Australia is a major ally of -America in the Pacific war, and if we want her co-operation in the fullest measure we must help her by land, sea and air, industrially and militarily, and with our naval power. “It is as plain as a pikestaff that if Australia should go, or even should be effectively isolated by the Japanese, we would have access to no major base in the western Pacific. The war in the Pacific will be hard enough without that disaster.” CHEERFUL JEST MACARTHUR’S TELEGRAM. WASHINGTON, March 3. Here is the latest authentic MacArthur anecdote which is being related in the offices of the War Department: A day after the recent air-raid scare in Los Angeles, with its attendant national excitement, the dashing Philippines commander sent this message to the War Department stating: “If you can hold out 30 days will send reinforcements.”