WELL LOOKED AFTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 May 1942, Page 4

WELL LOOKED AFTER

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS BROADCAST BY GOVERNOR OF FIJI. EXTENDED PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE. (New Zealand Official News Service.) SUVA, May 24. Broadcasting to the people of Fiji and the western Pacific on Empire Day, Sir Harry Luke, Governor and High Commissioner, declared that victory had become “a personal necessity for each one of us, seeing that without it none of the races dwelling in these groups of islands can look into the future with anything but despair.” The period of Japanese advance, he said, would pass as had the other hazardous periods of the war. To enable the civilians of Fiji to ftg give the help which they were anxious to provide, he said, he had formed under his chairmanship a board representative of the main communities to co-ordinate the war effort of the civil population. He thanked all who had helped by planting more food, and stressed the need for making the colony self-supporting. He also announced an increase in the staff of the information office. The most remote palm-fringed atoll of the Pacific now had some conception of the horrors and suffering of total war, but the sudden and treacherous challenge had brought unity and determination to the many races which inhabit the scattered area, the Governor continued. Nowhere had this been more noticeable than in the Kingdom of Tonga, where under the guidance of the beloved Queen Salote, every section of the community had combined to prepare to resist the aggressor to the utmost should the need arise. Sir Harry Luke also referred to the Ellice and Gilbert Islands, and said that though a few of the islands had been occupied by the enemy, this, in no way impaired the loyalty and morale of the islanders. He also paid a tribute to the “undiminished friendliness” of the Free French in the Pacific. He recalled the visit of an American naval squadron in April, 1941, and referred to the remark of the American admiral that Americans were not far away. The Americans were friends then, and now they were allies, he said, and as such they were a good deal nearer. “The Battle of the Coral Sea was comforting evidence of that,” he added. “We acknowledge with gratitude, and- shall always recall with pride, the part played in that battle by the sailors and airmen of Australia, who are the shield between the aggressor and the shores of many Pacific Islands, as well as their own continent. “We know, too, that should they be given the chance—which I am sure they crave—of getting' to grips with this new enemy, the tough and resourceful sons of New Zealand, many of whom now stand guard on the soil of this colony, will covet themselves _ > with equal glory. What with our relations and our friends and the growing efficiency of our own small but resolute fighting forces, forgetting the Home Guard,, we have reason to believe we shall be pretty well looked after.”