AUSTRALIA’S VALUE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23588, 16 March 1942, Page 5

AUSTRALIA’S VALUE

Last Bastion Of U.S. WARNING BY MR CI|RTIN (Received March 15, 7.45 p.m.) (U.PA) CANBERRA. March 15. A warning to the United States that J Australia was the last democratic basuoii protecting the west coast of the United States was' given by the Prime Minister • (Mr J. Curtin) in a shortwave broadcast to the United States on Saturday. “If Australia goes, the Americas are wide open,” he declared. Mr Curtin addressed the Americans as comrades in this war. He paid, tribute to the part Britain was playing, which was coupled with her obligation to help Russia. He said he recognised the Mother Country found it impossible to go "all out” in the Pacific. The result was that the responsibility fell on Australia and New Zealand. Mr Curtin appealed to the United States to be Australia’s leader, *and pledged that Australia would pull every ounce of her weight. The Australians, he said, were “fighting mad.” and the whole nation was stripped for war. “Our minds are set on attack rather than defence,” he said. “We believe attack is the best defence in the Pacific. “I speak from a united people to a united people, to you who are or will be fighting, to you who are sweating in the factories or workshops. Ilook you to turn out the vital munitions of war and provide the enormous resources required for our great task. I speak to you at a time when the loss of Java and the splendid resistance of the gallant Dutch give us a feeling of both sadness and pride.” Mr Curtin added; “It was our wish that a Pacific War Council should be located in Washington, and it is a matter of some regret that after 95 days of Japan’s staggering advance south we have not obtained first-hand contact with the United States. Therefore we propose sending you our Minister for External Affairs (Dr. A. V. Evatt) as the representative of a people determined to hold and hit back at the enemy as courageously as those from whom we spring. . “He will tell you we are ’fighting mad,’ and ready for anything, that we are committed to total warfare. I give you the pledge of my country that there will always be an Australian government and an Australian people. The justice of our cause is too strong to be overcome.” Mr Curtin gave a brief history of Australia’s war effort, and the theatres In which her soldiers had already fought. He said: “Our fighting forces are born attackers. We shall hit the enemy whenever and often as we can. Tpe extent of our resistance will be measured only by the weapons placed in our hands.” Mr Curtin’s broadcast was kept secret until the hour of its delivery to prevent its being jammed by the Japanese. A London message says new arrangements for co-ordinating Allied strategy in the Pacific and Indian Oceans are being considered by Britain, the . United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, and India, and will shortly be discussed among them, according to the “Sunday Times.” The proposals involve remodelling the machinery oi the Pacific Council, including staff arrangements, as a result of the shifted balance of war. The council in future will possibly sit in Washington. A final decision on the constitution ana of the Pacific Council may be /, Jelayed until Dr. Evatt reaches Wash- \ mgton. . , The paper says Dr. Evatt is expected to visit London, where he may sit with the War Cabinet for a few months in succession lo Sir Earle Page. A. member of the Australian Cabinet will later succeed Dr. Evatt. According to the Paris radio. a, Pj anese Government spokesman declared that a few days would elapse before Japan answered Mr Curtin's appeal to the United States. U.S. National Song.— Mr Louis Ludlow has introduced a joint resolution in the United States House of Representatives, proposing to make “Onwarrt, Christian Soldiers,” the United States national song.—Washington, March 10.