ALLEGED FRICTION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 268, 23 August 1945, Page 5

ALLEGED FRICTION

AUSTRALIA AND BRITAIN. REPRESENTATION AT PEACE FUNCTION. (N.Z. Press Association-Copyright.) SYDNEY, August 22. Representatives of the Australian fighting services will sign the instrument of surrender in Tokio. This news, which was announced to-day, is regarded as a triumph for Australia’s claim to be fully consulted in Pacific affairs. The Australian delegates will be: General Sir Thomas Blarney (leader), Commodore J. A. Collins and Captain R. R. Dowling (Navy), Major-General F. H. Berryman (Army) and Air ViceMarshal G. Jones and Air Vice-Mar-shal W. D. Bostock (Air Force). “This decision to include Australia follows strong representations made by the Government concerning our rights to full participation in the surrender and armistice arrangements with Japan,’’ said the Minister of Defence (Mr J. A. Beasley). During the last few weeks a bitter behind-the-scenes diplomatic struggle has been going on between the Australian and British Governments, says the Canberra correspondent of the “Sydney Sun.” The Australians’ complaint was that Australia, the main upholder of the Empire in the Pacific, was being relegated to a position of dependency. Australia believed that, as the solitary white race in the Pacific, surrounded by nations of other origins, it had a vital interest in the Pacific. Might Spell Doom. The preservation of a Japan with a code that viewed peace as a breathing space before another war might spell doom to Australia, and Australia contended that its future was too inextricably linked with Avhat action was being taken for it to be indifferent, says the paper. Australia found that Britain did not fight to get Australia represented throughout the surrender and armistice negotiations. The Australian viewpoint was that Britain by this attitude was relegating it to a position of a fourth rate Power, so Australia asked America to use its influence to get Australia represented at tlie surrender. On the military side, also, there has been conflict between the Australian and British viewpoints, continues the correspondent. Britain wanted only Australian .brigade to go to Japan as part of the British Empire force, but Australia decided to send two brigades. This meant that it would be able to play a more important part in policing Japan, which, in turn, would have a psychological effect upon the Japanese approach to the importance of Australia. ,