PACKED UP

Evening Star, Issue 25708, 4 February 1946, Page 6

PACKED UP

U.S. NAVAL BASES IN PACIFIC ONLY SKELETON STAFFS LEFT IN SYDNEY AND NEW GUINEA (N.Z.P.A, Special Aust. Correspondent.) Qtec. 12.10 p.m.) , SYDNEY, February 4. " We are handing the war over to the accountants " said a senior United States navy officer to-day referring to the phenomenal speed at which American naval bases in the Pacific are being demilitarised. Inquiries made by the special corespondent of the New Zealand Press Association reveal that of its once large base organisations in Australia and the Netherlands Indies only skeleton staffs will be left in Sydney and New Guinea. Of the 17,000 personnel manning bases in the area less than 300 will remain at the end of this month. Seven of the eight bases established north of Australia are already closed. Finschhafen was the first to go. Then the big base at Hollandia, where 5,600 men were located last April, and Bialc, which had a staff of 2,300, have both been handed back. The figures of those bases" which have been completely abandoned, with the numbers of men manning them during last April, are—Hollandia 5,600, Biak 2,600, Brisbane 1,700, Fremantle 700, Morotai 520, Balik Papan 480, Melbourne 250, Brunei Bay 88, and Tarakan 61. The sole remaining naval base personnel in Australia are 90 men who are assisting in clearing out and checking process from Sydney. The sole base north of Australia is Milne Bay, where there are 200 men .as against 4,364 in April. Darwin, where the Americans maintained a base for submarines operating out of Fremantle, was closed immediately after V.J.-Day. In all cases closing down does not mean merely shifting the men to other theatres. All restricted materials' have been shipped out and other stores disposed of in. a variety of ways. After survey by the Naval Board, stores which it was uneconomic to reclaim have been destroyed. A large surplus has been turned over to' the liquidation commission for disposal. DISPOSAL OF SUPPLIES. Food and medical supplies in bases in or near Dutch territory were sold to the Dutch to meet the needs of citizens in, the liberated territory. It is emphasised that no arms or ammunition were supplied to the Dutch. The difficulties of disposal-are much greater in Australia, where _to cover the possibility of the severing of huge reserves _of all kinds of supplies were piled up. The pace at which the counter-offensive moved north prevented the diversion of shipping to lift these stores, which are still scattered about Australia, in many cases under Army guard. The Army and naval chiefs are to discuss the problem of their, ultimate disposal at a conference next week. Though the navy has' outsped the American army in the speed of its withdrawal, the army is not far behind. Brisbane, which was once General MacArthur's headquarters, and a hive of American amry industry, has been described as resembling a vast, deserted military camp, or a town once occupied by victorious troops and now abandoned as the advancer continued. In any part of Australia to-day, the once familiar American army,_ navy, and marine uniforms are a rarity.'