MR. MENZIES IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 127, 22 February 1941, Page 11

MR. MENZIES IN BRITAIN

Impressions Of Middle

East Tour

LONDON, February 20.

The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. R. G. Menzies, arrived in this country by air this afternoon. He has come at'the invitation of the British Government to discuss matters of common interest iu war co-operation. In an interview, Mr. Menzies said: "I am delighted to come to England, and to say to the people of Britain that we are on your si'de, and (hat you will never be beaten while there are any of u.s above the surface.” Speaking of his 11-days’ tour of the Middle East, where he inspected members of the Australian Army, Navy, and Air Force, Mr. Menzies said: "I covered a range of country from Jerusalem to Benghazi, and altogether I flew about 3500 miles in the Middle East, which is some indication how fast the Australian Forces are travelling. I found them all in tremendous fettle.”

Mr. Menzies added that he saw many thousands of Australians who all regarded the operations against the Italians as being in the nature of a preliminary canter. “What they want is lo have a ‘go’ at the Germans,” he said. It was a most remarkable fact, he added, that, in Libya he saw more Italian prisoners than Imperial soldiers.

Speaking of his visit to Britain, Mr. Menzies sai'd that first of all he wanted to bring to the people of this country the encouragement and confidence of the people of Australia. “I do not think anything in .my time has moved the jteople of Australia as the way in which the people of Britain have taken the air at tacks,” he said. lie also wanted to see first-hand what was going on in Britain, what was being done, and the spirit, in which it was being done, so that he could return to Australia with a true impression. “I am quite sure that the more clearly the truth is understood the greater the stimulus that will be given to our own war effort,” lie said.

Up added that I bore was no doubt that Britain would win, but she could not win completely unless everybody produced the maximum all-round effort.