EAST INDIES READY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20638, 19 August 1941, Page 5

EAST INDIES READY

NATIVES BORN FIGHTERS EAGER TO SERVE:. SYDNEY, Aug. 14. Assurances that the native population of the Dutch East Indies is trained and eager to resist an aggressor were given by Lieutenant-Commander P. H. Bloem, of the Royal Dutch Navy, on his arrival in Sydney. “The natives,” he said, “are born fighters and their response to the call for home defence had been surprising. Only 50 years ago the Dutch defeated the Acheens some of the best fighters, in the north of Sumatra. To-day these natives are volunteering for the Home Guard. “In the East Indies we are prepared for any eventuality. If it becomes necessary, we will fight. Everybody is calm.” Lieutenant-Commander Bloem said that he had been serving with the Royal Dutch Navy in the East Indies for seven years. “I am due for leave now and should be in Holland. But Jerry is there and I cannot go back until we push him out.” Part of .the Dutch East Indies' war effort, he said, included the construction of merchant ships.. Plans were being made to build 10,000-ton merchant ships at a port in Java, but it would be about a year before a start would be made on actual construction.