GREAT PART

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 September 1943, Page 3

GREAT PART

BEING PLAYED BY INDIA IN WAR PROBLEMS OF POLITICAL ADVANCEMENT. NEW VICEROY ON IMPENDING TASKS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 16. Field-Marshal Lord Wavell, address- ‘ ing the Pilgrims’ Society in London, said that three main problems which he would find facing him when he arrived in India to take up his post as Viceroy were, first, the need to carry on the war with Japan to a decisive and speedy victory; secondly, to deal with the day-to-day problems of government, economic and social, which were so vital to India; and thirdly, the political advancement of India, which to many appeared the most important problem of all.

“I can say no more than that I fully realise the great weight of opinion, both here and in India, in favour of loosening as early as possible, the present deadlock and also the difficulty of doing so,” he said. Lord Wavell paid a high tribute to India for her contribution to the war, saying that, “without the assistance of India, both in troops and material, we most certainly could not have held the Middle East, which has been, I think I may claim, the keystone of our present successes. It was India’s troops that helped us to hold not only Egypt, but Palestine, Syria, Iraq and Persia. “For this the United Nations owe India a considerable debt, which I am sure they will not forget.” He said the latest developments and the establishment of a combined command for South-East Asia would make British-American co-operation even, closer in India, which was one of the principal bases for the common effort against Japan. He added: “The war will not be over, and there can be no military or economic security for the East, for ourselves, or for the world till Japan is as thoroughly defeated as Germany will be.”