DUTCH EAST INDIES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24723, 27 September 1941, Page 10

DUTCH EAST INDIES

GREAT BRITAIN’S ATTITUDE FULL STATEMENT DESIRED SINGAPORE. Sept. 25. Dutch opinion is unanimous that the time has arrived when Mr Churchill should make a full and positive statement on the relations between Britain and the Netherlands East Indies. The Batavia Nieusblad directs attention to the fact that both Mr Duff Cooper and Air Vicemarshal Brooke-Popham have evaded questions why no complete alliance exists. The newspaper says there must be some reason for Britain’s aversion to any alliance, and for the very careful and, for the most part negative utterances of Mr Cooper and Air Vice-marshal Brooke-Popham. “ The only solution is that Britain has taken into account circumstances in which British assistance would not be absolutely assured beforehand, otherwise why this caution?” Informed sources say that the silence is causing undesirable misunderstanding and uneasiness among the peoples of the Netherlands East Indies, China, and the United States. Speculation is rife whether Canberra will urge Mr Churchill to make an early statement to clear away the present doubt. PLANES FROM AMERICA FERRIED ACROSS PACIFIC (Rec. 10 p.m.) BATAVIA, Sept. 25. The Netherlands East Indies Government has signed a contract for the delivery of 24,000,000 dollars’ worth of twin-engined bombers from the United States. They will be ferried across the Pacific to the Netherlands East Indies.