TRIBUTE TO BRITAIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 7 April 1945, Page 5

TRIBUTE TO BRITAIN

LONG YEARS OF WAR EFFORT MR FRASER’S OBSERVATIONS NEW ZEALAND APPRECIATION (Official News Service) London, April 5. Some observations on the mood of Britain as he had seen her at different stages of the war were made by Mr P. Fraser, N.Z. Prime Minister, as part of his opening address at the British Commonwealth discussions in London yesterday. Mr Fraser paid a warm tribute on New Zealand’s behalf of the war effort of this country. "I would like, not for the first time, to voice my appreciation of the noble attitude and unflinching conduct of the British people throughout the whole war. I know that members of the British Government, High Commissioners and officials who arc here can speak with far greater authority and far more intimate knowledge and more tragic experience on what has taken place during the past five years than I can, but it has been my lot and privilege to be able to visit England, Scotj land and Wales in 1939, 1941, 1944 and now again this year. “In 1939 we had the opportunity of seeing forces on the Western Front, being introduced to the Maginot Line and seeing the difficulties confronting our generals and men in facing the Germans there. We saw in Great Britain on all sides great and deep regret for the tragedy that had descended upon them, but a quiet determination and full appreciation of the fact that at last the hour to take a stand had come if the world were to be saved. “HAD TO SEE IT THROUGH” “That determination animated everybody, men and women alike. They felt with overwhelming conviction that they had to see it through. They have seen it through. There was only a dim discernment of what the future had in store for the people of the United Kingdom. It was impossible to foresee the collapse of the Western Front, the retreat at Dunkirk and the miracle of evacuation that took place there. When the collapse came the whole democratic world was waiting with its heart in its mouth, if I may so express this feeling, expecting news not of rescue but of complete disaster; and then that wonderful miracle took place in which so many sections of the British people, in addition to the Army, Navy, Air and Merchant Marine forces, took part. “I saw the people before that great event and saw thefn afterwards. Then added to the disasters on the Western Front came reverses in Greece, Crete and a further reverse in the Western Desert. “When I revisited Britain with my friend Mr Berendsen in 1941 when the war situation seemed to be its very blackest, I found a greater determination than ever with never a sign of weakening, but every man and woman doing a grand job in the fight, a job on a scale neither this country nor any other country ever achieved before. GREAT PROGRESS IN 1944 “In 1944. when I visited Britain again, we saw great progress. We saw great quantities of equipment. We saw great numbers of highly trained and fully equipped men—and among them now were men from the United States We have always to remember the gene-* rolity of the United States, but we cannot overlook the fact that Britain bore the brunt of the war for so long. “Once Britain could no longer depend on France and Belgium she depended upon herself and her Dominions and we all have cause for a great feeling of pride in that particular phase of the conflict. Maybe overlooked at times, Britain, with such help as the Dominions could give, held fast for mankind at the most critical hour in the history of humanity. But we appreciate that fact. The example Britain afforded undoubtedly helped to arouse to a greater pitch the feelings of- the peoples of the Dominions and increase their determination.

“Now we are meeting when victory against one enemy is within sight. Whether that victory may come sooner or later tha # n we hope, whether it may be within a few weeks or well into the summer before the powers of Hitler, which were mercifully dispersed over Europe instead of centred in Germany, are defeated, already there is a relaxation of the tension of the past five years. It is our hope that all the most sanguine and optimistic expectations will be realised.”—P.A. Special Correspondent.