QUEBEC TALKS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 217, 13 September 1944, Page 6

QUEBEC TALKS

PART FOR CANADA

Comment On U.S. Attitude To Britain's Pacific Policy N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 2.30 p.m. LONDON, Sept. 12. Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt arrived in Quebec in separate special trains and met on the station platform at the historic Wolfe's Cove. They both looked fit and cheerful as they chatted enthusiastically about the trend of events. After a short informal chat they drove to the Citadel, where they will live and work for the duration of the conference. The GovernorGeneral of Canada, the Earl of Athlone. drove with them.

Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt, already deep in their review of plans for victory, kept their first social engagement of the second Quebec conference on Monday night, when they were guests at a dinner given at the Citadel by the Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice, states a Quebec correspondent. Mrs. Churchill and Mrs. Roosevelt were present.

The early destruction of the aggressive power of Japan and the complete dissolution of the Hitler regime in Europe are the objectives of fresh planning between Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt, the correspondent continues. The war leaders have let it be known, through an • official spokesman, that the main purpose of the meeting is to plan early the complete destruction of the Axis Powers. They will concentrate on military problems, the chief topic being the war in the Pacific and Far East. Canadians At Conference The Canadian Press says that the Minister of Air, Mr. C. G. Power, the Minister of Defence, Colonel J. Ralston, and the Minister of the Navy, Mr. A. L. Macdonald, also the three chiefs of staff, will take part in the conferences with reference to the size and nature of Canada's contribution to the Pacific war. It is reliably reported that Messrs. Macdonald and Power are prepared to make "extremely substantial offers, possibly larger than will be accepted." These are believed to include a sizeable weight of bomber and fighter squadrons as well as practically all Canada's fighting ships. , , However, it is understood that the Army is not yet prepared to offer any more than a general commitment until its role in the European theatre has been more clearly defined and since the Canadian Army may take part in some form of international police force or occupation Army in enemy territory. One authoritative source said the Army's share in operations in the Pacific might be restricted to a corps of three divisions or less. Britain's Interest in the Pacific

The London Times, in a leader, after referring to the probability that Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt will be engaged in organising a victory in the Pacific, adds: "Certain unfriendly American circles have been circulating rumours that Britain does not intend undertaking a full share in the defeat 'of Japan. Nothing could be farther from the truth. "There has even been a tendency to underestimate the handsome first instalment of the Australians in clearing New Guinea. There is a tendency to forget that the British Commonwealth has quite as large an account to settle with the Japanese as has the United States. Singapore rankles as deeply as Pearl Harbour. "Nor should _ American interests and responsibilities be allowed to obscure the fact that four members of the British Commonwealth are Pacific Powers," the newspaper adds, "and, consequently, have as deep and abiding an interest in Pacific security as has the United States. Military and technical preparations for the transfer to the Japanese theatre are already far advanced in this country."