Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1942. PACIFIC WAR ORGANISATION.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 April 1942, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1942. PACIFIC WAR ORGANISATION.

OBSERVATIONS made yesterday by the Prime Minisler (31 r Fraser), when he spoke at the civic welcome extended in "Wellington to the American Minister in New Zealand (Briga-dier-General Hurley), no doubt will allay uneasiness awakened in a good many minds in this country by the very recent disclosure that our Dominion does not form part ol the SouthWestern Pacific area in which General Douglas MacArthur now exercises the powers of Coinmander-in-Chiel ol all Allied laud, sea and air forces.

The Prime Minister gave no detailed explanation ol the exclusion of New Zealand from the area under General MacArthur’s command, but he said there was no contusion on the question either in London or Washington, nor was there in Wellington or Canberra. He added that due consideration had been given to the question of stemming the Japanese rush in the Pacific and repelling any threat of invasion and that : - The boundaries of the various commands have been arranged accordingly, and the commands, so far as New Zealand is concerned will be announced very early from Washington. It was not, however, to defensive, but to offensive action that the people of the democratic countries were giving most thought at present, Mr Fraser declared and he went on to speak of a time coming in which armies, fleets and air forces, equipped as never before, would go forth from our shores, as well as from those of the Commonwealth, to the rcconquest of the Pacific for democracy and freedom. With details left meantime to be filled in, the Prime Minister’s observations may be accepted as embodying a satisfactory assurance that New Zealand has its recognised and appointed place in the plans that are being shaped for united action by the Allies in the Pacific. Nothing less than this, of course, was to be expected, for no country has given more definite proof than has New Zealand of its acceptance of the principle of. united action against the common enemy. That proof appears primarily in the disposition of our land, sea and air forces overseas, which have acquitted themselves so well and valiantly in the Middle East and many other theatres of war.