PEARL HARBOUR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 291, 9 December 1941, Page 8

PEARL HARBOUR

AMERICA'S GIBRALTAR AUCKLANDER'S EXPERIENCES "Had the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour taken place a few weeks earlier, when "Navy Week' was being celebrated, the damage would in all probability have been much greater," said Mr. S. Howard Hunter, ©f Auckland, who has returned from a brief visit to the United States and Canada. Mr. Hunter said that when he passed through the Hawaiian Islands on his way north the celebrations were being carried out, and there was a congregation of about 40 United States warships of all classes in Pearl Harbour. "I was in Honolulu recentlv and knowing the strength of the fortifications and the military work that has been going on, I can onlv express amazement that the Japanese should have made an attack on such a stronghold," he said. "When I passed through recently there was still a considerable number of warships in the harbour, including an aircraft carrier, but nothing approaching the assembly associated with 'Navy Week.'" Mr. Hunter "said that there was much military activity noticeable in the islands. Thousands of people appeared to be feverishly engagei in the construction of aerodromes, barracks for the troops and storage tanks for petroL Bombers and

fighter planes were continuously i the air carrying out exercises.'an it was because of all these factor that he and other people wen astonished that Pearl Harbour ha been surprised. "The defences ar reported to be so strong .that Pear Harbour is frequently referred to a the American Gibraltar," he addec "Such an audacious attack will, feel sure, stir the American natioi into immediate activity. It will dmore than anything else to destrothe theory of the isolationists tha nobody will attack the United State: What has happened will cause grav. concern to., the Paaflc Coast, c America, where so many huge plan are at their peak of production L the manufacture of aircraft for di patch to Britain and her Allies. Thi treacherous attack by Japan will ce. tainly have the effect of uniting th American people and should put a end to the strikes Out have bee occurring with such frequency c late, involving hundreds of tboi sands of workers and holding u essential production." Mr. Hunter ended with a warnir note that what had happened ; Pearl Harbour was not impossiL in New Zealand.