STRONGER AIR FORCES

Grey River Argus, 7 June 1943, Page 5

STRONGER AIR FORCES

IN S.W. PACIFIC

To Save Australia’s Strain

PRIME MINISTER’S . DISCLOSURE.

[Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Rec. 12.40.) SYDNEY, June 6. The American air •strength in the South-west Pacific area, which already is slightly in excess of Australia’s air combat strength in the same threatre, is to be greatly increased in the near future.

At the same time, negotiations are now proceeding in Washington which ar e aimed at securing sufficient additional aircraft to double the existing strength of the Australian . Air Force. This has been announced by the Prime Minister, Mr. J. Curtin. He did so 1 in an address to-day to the New South Wales conference of the Australian Labour Party. Mr.. Curtin at the same time defended the Government’s militia policy, which the Labour Party conference subsequently endorsed by 321 votes to 118. Mr. Curtin warned the delegates that Australia’s destiny and her future security might well be determined by the distance she was prepared to go in using her forces to defeat the Japanese. The Japanese were now consolidating their positions. They were building air bases from Timor Island to the Solomon _ Islands. Their strength was growing. Mr. Curtin said that the system of bases and of landing strips that had been developed by the enemy gave them great mobility and the power to concentrate anywhere along their aI,R - TTU, He said that the defeat of Hitler first precluded a full-scale offensive against Japan. Their aim must be to pierce the arc of bases that were held by the enemy, to force their withdrawal, or to isolate them in sections, for their later destruction.. The Prime Minister also announced that the Government considered, the stage had been reached for a review of the extent and the balance ot Australia’s war effort in the light of the present strategical situation m the South-west Pacific, and of the plans for future operations. “It is evident, from the Manpower situation, that the Australian war effort has reached saturation point,” he said. “Additional commitments can only be undertaken at the expense of some obligation. The Command-er-in-Chief is to furnish me with an appreciation of the local defence position in Australia, and I am not without hope that it will offer some improvement in the general stringency of the manpower position. ’