The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, August 16, 1945. EAST ASIA’S NEW ERA.

Grey River Argus, 16 August 1945, Page 4

The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, August 16, 1945. EAST ASIA’S NEW ERA.

A. known certainty for several clays no doubt. to Allied leaders, yesterday brought- the .formal capitulation of Japan, and. the greatest rejoicing among all of the United Nations. The best face the enemy spokesmen could put upon their decision has been to attribute it mainly to the atomic bomb. They, however, had on their part doubtless realised for a long time that they faced defeat, and were even in a quandary as to how they could find a way out. The victory jubilations so widely reported arc as spontaneous as they are justified, though emotional at first from a sense of relief, and chiefly characterised by the physical energies of the younger people. When a fuller realisation later follows that liberty has been maintained for mankind, and tyranny overthrown, in a struggle unprecedented in history, the rejoicing will be more enduring, if more sober, because

it will be more intelligent. It is meantime most fitting that the representative of the victors in accepting the surrender of. the vanquished should be General MacArthur. If the Allies have overcome .Japan with casualties only a fraction of those suffered by the enemy, it has been his example and military genius more than that of any other single individual which have been responsible. Since the day he declared his determination to return for the defeat of the Japanese, he has been an inspiration for all the forces fighting them, and been the symbol of. American determination throughout the Pacific campaign. Many forces have contributed to the victory, but the British and Dominion Prime Ministers as well as other Allied leaders are as one in acclaiming the outstanding and indispensable part which the Americans have played in avenging Pearl Harbour and restoring safety and freedom in the whole Pacific hemisphere. TheVnid of hostilities, however, means the start of a task no less enormous. The Americans have between five and six million men to demobilise, and expect it to' take more than a year. Other countries, like Australia,'and New Zealand have also this problem, while other difficult ones are the occupation of Japan, the repatriation of her forces, the restoration of China, Korea, indoChina, Malaya, Burma and the Dutch and Australian islands. In China’s ease, despite the conclusion just announced of a treaty in Moscow, there seems a risk, that hostilities will have to be averted as between the Northern Communist forces, operating alongside the Russians, and the forces of the Chungking Government. The former are said to he accumulating arms from the Japanese, some of whom are handing these over with the idea of perpetuating Chinese dissention. The British will soon return to Malaya, and it is to be noted that Admiral Fraser already puts in a plea that Singapore is for Britain preferable to any Australian port as a naval base. Australians may scarcely agree, nor, perhaps, New Zealanders, in. view of the signal .failure of Singapore to act as a barrier during the war just over. However, the problems of peace, which certainly will be lasting ones, can be faced with greatly enlarged experience and knowledge, and, at the same time, unopposed by the ascendancy Japan had developed before she betrayed her full ambition in attacking America. The vast war-time dislocation of men must pose equally great industrial problems for all belligerents. In the ease of the Pacific countries these point to a definite increase of commercial intercourse as a moans of economic recovery and progress. Not only social and industrial destruction, but enormous, loss of life, in the most virile categories has resulted from the war. On the other hand, success has given a better basis than ever for the victorious peoples to promote social as well as economic progress, hut they must see to it that the nearby backward peoples become sharers in this advancement. For New. Zealanders and Australians, at least as much as for any other peoples, the new order in the Pacific must mean new duties and burdens, not only in self defence, but' in promoting the welfare, ol our many and varied neighbours.