WHERE 'AUSTRALIANS STAND

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 116, 19 May 1942, Page 5

WHERE 'AUSTRALIANS STAND

TIE WITH BRITAIN

(By Telegrapb —Press Association— Copyrieht » (Rec. 10 a.m.) SYDNEY, May 18. "I have never been able to understand the misconceptions about the message which I sent President Roosevelt early in January asking for United States aid for the defence of Australia," declared the Prime Minister (Mr. J. Curtin) in the course of a speech here. # "Let it be clearly understood that the relationship between Australia and the United States, Australia and Canada, and Australia and New Zealand are all governed by one supreme purpose—the retention of Australia as an integral part of the British Commonwealth of Nations.

"If it was right and proper for Mr. Winston Churchill to make two visits to see President Roosevelt, as I have no doubt it was, I can only wonder why it was wrong for someone else to send a message to Mr. Roosevelt."

Mr. Curtin pointed out that, as leader of a' democratic country, /it was his duty to let the people know what was in- his heart and mind, what he thought the nation was faced with, and what he thought the nation was capable of doing with its resources. If he thought those resources inadequate to preserve the security of the country, he should not be afraid to face criticism and to say where the things most needed by the country could best be obtained. Geographical considerations made it inevitable that Australians might hold different views on war matters from those in other parts of the Empire moulded in the. institutions and traditions of England. IN DIFFERENT ZONES. "Strategically, Australia is vital to the whole structure of the Empire in this war," he said. "We are in the south, the Motherland is in the north, ana the two together are complementary, otherwise the whole story of colonisation is unreal and without an objective.

"I make no apology for the statement which I made to the United States to regard this Pacific zone as of vital importance not only to us but to the security of the United States. The help we asked for has come to us, and more is coming. '

"I know that with the ultimate mobilisation of the resources of the Allied nations, we will be much stronger than the enemy." The Allies l. ust stick together—there must be no sacrificing of one for the alleged common good. Australia stands irrevocably with the Allies."