The Two Pacific Lands

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23791, 19 October 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Two Pacific Lands

By NEW ZEALANDER

A T the end of a bright review of A his experiences in journalism, Mr. C. Brunsdon Fletcher, editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, till his retirement three years ago, emphasises once again the importance of defence in the Pacific, a subject to which he devoted several books published during the Great War. He pointedly directs attention to the defensive value of our natural harbours. On a map of the Pacific he has drawn a circle round the Tasman Sea with a radius of eight hundred miles, bringing within its circumference all the principal cities of Australia and New Zealand. "This," he notes, "is to say the greater part of our Australasian population is clotted round a circle almost wholly occupied by—fish. But within the circumference of that circle lie three harbours so, fine and commodious that half a dozen navies could find room in them.

Australian Journalist's Reminiscences

"Sydney Harbour at last is to be given a graving dock large enough to take a battleship, but tho Denvcnt estuary is better for certain naval requirements than Port Jackson. The Waitemata, with Auckland, a great and growing city, is another gift of nature for naval and harbourage purposes." And so Mr. Fletcher, after a cheerful recital of incidents grave and gay, in peace and in war, over the last sixty odd years, looks forward to unity for strength in tho two Pacific lands in which his own full lifo lias been spent. The book, "The Great Wheel," deals with significant events in the author's professional lifetime, but even more with outstanding men with whom lie has been intimate, and who, in their various ways, have helped to "spin the great wheel" in Australia and elsewhere. There is much humour in tho telling, many good stories, appreciation of past achievements, and hope for even better things in the days to come. "Tho Groat Wheel," by C. Brunsdon Fletcher. (Angus and .Robertson.)