“MORE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD”

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23943, 10 May 1943, Page 4

“MORE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD”

ATTITUDE OF j AUSTRALIA r DR. EVATT’S MISSIO^ IN AMERICA “Although Australia’s Minister of Ex«. ternal Affairs (Dr. H. V. Evatt) na| j been in Washington less than a month;it can confidently be said that Australia’s attitude on the south-west Pacific is much- more clearly and sympathetically understood in all official , circles.” This statement is made jointly by the editors of three leading Australian papers who are at present i visiting the United States. Dr. Evatt had interviews with Mr ' Roosevelt and his closest advisers and these resulted in the needs of the south-west Pacific being reassessed m terms of the changed conditions in that theatre. Any belief that Australia was anxious to secure major modifications in the previously-decided global strategy or a sectional advantage has been effectively dissipated. Dr. Evatt has emphasised that if a holding war must be fought in the south-west Pacific, adequate forces must be made ervailable to ensure that the front can, in fact, he held. He also stressed that such a war necessitates constant harassing so that the enemy might not build up an impregnable position. Noel Monks' formerly a war correspondent in the south-west Pacific, writing in the London “Daily Mail,” urges the inauguration of a “Aeroplanes for Australia Week” on the same lines as the “Tanks for Russia Week” which proved such a success. “Aircraft are Australia’s vital need,” he says. “With sufficient air power, the Australians can not only hold the Japanese away from their shores, but can hit them hard in their island strongholds to th# north.”