SIGN OF STRENGTH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20864, 17 August 1942, Page 3

SIGN OF STRENGTH

U.s. PUSH IN SOLOMONS BENEFIT TO AUSTRALIA MR. W. M. HUGHES’ VIEW (.10.30 a.m.) SYDNEY, Aug.l7. The statements that supplies irom America to Australia were disappointingly small and had been reduced to a mere trickle were misleading and carculated to depress the. people of Australia and hearten the enemy, said Mr. W, M. Hughes, deputy leader of the Australia Opposition. He added that the forces sent by the United States to the Commonwealth were, to say the least, substantial. , , , . “The Battle of the Solomons, fought in the main by the Americans, is as much the battle for Australia as if it were fought on the coasts of Australia. Even more significant than the magnitude of the strength of the forces engaged in the Solomons is the fact that it is an offensive—the first offensive by the Allies since the Pacific war began. “The story of the Pacific war makes depressing, reading. It has been a story of aggressive war by the Japanese and, for the first time, we are now moving on. It is the opening stage of that great compaign on which we must concentrate our lives. The Solomons battle shows America’s strength and her confidence that she can roll the Japanese up.”