AUSTRALIA’S DEMAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 April 1943, Page 4

AUSTRALIA’S DEMAND

4 MUST HAVE ADEQUATE FLOW OF SUPPLIES IN FIGHTING HOLDING WAR. DECLARATION EY FEDERAL PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) MELBOURNE, April 19. Australia will insist on an adequate flow of war materials to hold the Japanese in check till Germany is defeated. This has been made clear by the Prime Minister, Mr Curtin.

“To our allies, I say that the Australian Government accepts the global strategy in so far as it conditions the employment of Australia as an offensive base till Hitler is beaten,” declared Mr Curtin, “but it does not accept a flow of war material, particularly aircraft, which does not measure up to the requirements of a holding war.

“Some critics,” he added, “say Australia’s case contradicts itself. They say that every time danger looms, the sequel is a smashing blow against the Japanese. That is true, but it is also true that these blows impose a strain on our resources which has at times come perilously close to exhaustion point.” Strong denials that the warnings about the Japanese menace to Australia’s north were in any way connected with the war loan propaganda have been made by Federal Ministers. The Commonwealth’s third £100,000,000 Liberty Loan closes next Tuesday, and ‘<heavy subscriptions are required to fill the loan.

“The big Japanese air raids on Port Moresby and Milne Bay during the past week are just tokens of what is to come,” declared the Minister of Supply, Mr Beasley. Vigorously attacking complacency, the Minister added: “The warnings given have a real and genuine basis. The object of the Japanese is to move their air bases closer to Australia. The need for individual effort is just as great today as it was 12 months ago.” A similar statement has been made by the Minister of the Army, Mr Forde, in Perth. He affirmed his confidence that any Japanese landing attempt in Western Australia would be repulsed. Australia, he said, faced a tremendous task in guarding her huge coastline,■‘-and the defence of Wetsern Australia had loomed large in War Cabinet deliberations.