JAPANESE DANGER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20823, 30 June 1942, Page 2

JAPANESE DANGER

AMERICAN’S WARNING EYES ON THE SOUTH Addressing the members of the Wellington Rotary Club, Mr. M. K. Slosberg, representative in New Zealand of the National Broadcasting Company, of New York, United States of America, gave a warning against complacency, which he said existed in the thought that “such things could never happen here.” People in Sydney thought that till recently, when .the city was attacked by submarines. It could happen here to-night or any night. Only -a few weeks ago, he said, people in Australia were wondering whether the Japanese would decide to attack India or Australia. As a matter of fact, save for a few furtive bombings, they had attacked neither country in strength, but had contented themselves with consolidating their positions in the Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and Burma.

Some military experts had imagined that after the Japanese had captured Hong Kong, Malaya, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and a few outlying islands, they not be stretching out further. That was a wrong conclusion, for the Japanese were next heard of in action in the Aleutian Islands, at Midway Island, and also, through the medium of submarines, off the coasts of Australia and South Africa. The Japanese had been for years talking of an advance to the south, and it was important that everyone should remember that; and while taking every possible precaution, be prepared for the worst. Australia and New Zealand might in the future be the places from which an offensive against the Japanese would be taken—-at the right time. In the meantime there was no doubt that the present intention of the enemy was to cut the • life-line between America and Australia and New Zealand.