The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News.The Echo and The Sun THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1944. NEW ZEALAND AND PACIFIC WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 218, 14 September 1944, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News.The Echo and The Sun THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1944. NEW ZEALAND AND PACIFIC WAR

THE time approaches when the United Nations will be able to give ■*• undivided attention to the fighting of the war in the Pacific. That time, which will not come until the Germans have laid down their arms in unconditional surrender, will be welcomed particularly bj' those peoples who, because they live in the Pacific, cannot know peace until the power of Japan has been broken and she has been forced to yield iip her conquests. Those conquests include a substantial part of the British Empire, and British peoples will not rest until, they have been regained. From the point of vi>rvv of physical possessions, the British stake in the Pacific war is greater than the American, and for that reason alone, even if there existed no solemn pledge, Britain, and the Pacific Dominions, too, are bound to turn all their available forces against Japan when Germany has been defeated. An impressive indication of British determination and unity is provided.by the news that three Canadian Ministers are attending the conference in Quebec in order to discuss the size and nature senior Dominion's contribution, and that they are prepared to make "extremely substantial offers, possibly larger than will be accepted." Canada stands in no peril from Japan. Her geographical position, in its proximity to her great neighbour, is such that her future is assured in a way that the future of Australia and New Zealand cannot be unless their populations are greatly increased. Nevertheless, she is to do her part in the sti-uggle against Japan, just as she is doing it to-day in the climactic campaign against Germany. Her Army and Air Force are powerful, not only relatively but absolutely, and the participation of the latter in the Pacific war, and of her naval forces, which are far from negligible, will represent a substantial addition to the forces which the United Nations will have at their disposal. Australia's role in the Pacific war is already fairly clearly defined. New Zealand's, if it has been allotted, is not announced, nor is it apparent. According to the Defence Minister's recent statement, R.N.Z.A.F. squadrons will be "called upon to assume important protective responsibilities" and certain squadrons are to "form part of a task force which will move forward against the Japanese." Of the Army's role nothing is being said. It is important that something should be said. The Dominion is well aware that its share in the Pacific war • must be relatively small. Its share in the war against Europe has been relatively small, but its people have been glad to think that it has been distinctive, and on several occasions most valuable. Knowledge of this fact has had an important influence in maintaining at a high level the home support of forces fighting far away. If it had been thought that those forces were too small to be significant, or that they had been relegated to unimportant duties, the support would have been less. These considerations are applicable even more strongly to the Avar in the Pacific. When Germany has been defeated there will be, inevitably, some relaxation of will, and—as the Pacific war is far away—a feeling that Japan can, and will be vanquished without much effort on the Dominion's part. The will can be strengthened, and the feeling banished, only by specific statements leading to a full understanding of what New Zealand can do, and has undertaken to do. If this be doubted, let the prevalent, attitude to-day be contrasted with that of 1939, and, particularly, of 1940, when the people told the Government they felt they ought to be doing more. Moreover, a Government which is taking £133,000,000 for war purposes in a period that has still more than six months to run, and in all probability will' be longer than the period of Germany's remaining resistance, should go out of its way to make the people understand the purposes for which the money is required.