TRADITION UPHELD

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 286, 3 December 1941, Page 6

TRADITION UPHELD

SEARCH CO! "INUING

MINISTERS DEEPLr MOVED

Although it was not certain what had happened to the Sydney, it was known that she had taken part in "a gallant action with conspicuous success," said the Australian Minister for the Navy, Mr. Makin, with reference to the Commonwealth's greatest loss of the war.

"I learned with profound regret that the Sydney had been posted missing," added Mr. Makin. "While it is difficult to believe that she has foundered, the time by which she is now overdue makes us believe our worst fears are correct.

"This we do know. She fought a gallant action with conspicuous success and worthily emulated the former Sydney and her fight at Cocos Island 27 years ago.

"To all the relatives so sadly bereaved I tender my deep sympathy. I hope the knowledge that their men served their country with such devotion to duty will afford them some solace.

"We have not entirely abandoned hope. The search for the ship or survivors will go on until we are convinced that everything possible has been done." Other Tributes "Members of the Opposition share with the Prime Minister and his Government their sincere regret at the loss of H.MA.S. Sydney," said the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr. Fadden. "Personally, and on behalf of the Opposition in the Commonwealth Parliament, I wish to extend deepest sympathy to the relatives of the crew of a famous unit of the Royal Australian Navy."

"If anything has happened to the Sydney it will be a bitter blow to the people of this city who gave her such a tumultuous welcome when she returned here this year," said Mr. W. M. Hughes, former Minister for the Navy.

"While we must hope for the best, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that she is now so long overdue that the probability is that something has happened to her.

"Her exploits in the war in the Mediterranean, climaxed by her sinking of the Bartolomeo Colleoni, stirred the world. For a month it appeared that she took part in every stirring incident with the Italians."

The Premier of New South Wales, Mr. McKell, stated that there was not an Australian who would not share in the sorrow into which the families of the Sydney's gallant crew would be plunged. "But mingled with that sorrow will be pride— pride in the magnificent record left behind by the ship and the men who manned her," he added.

"To think that the gallant officers and men whom I welcomed back from the Mediterranean last February are gone makes me too grieved to express what I feel. The loss of H.M.A.S. Sydney is the biggest heartache of the war," said the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Alderman Crick.