NAVY'S WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24836, 9 February 1942, Page 5

NAVY'S WORK

TRIBUTE TO, SERVICE JAPAN IN THE PACIFIC TEMPORARY ASCENDENCY I (Rec;Vlo:p.m:X RUGBY;-Feb. 7. [ Again and again since May, 1940, the Royal Navy has stood between Great Britain > and, defeat. The First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr A. V. Alexander) gaveemphasis to this fact in a speech at the opening of the Halifax (Yorkshire) Warship ; Week. Halifax has adopted H.M.S. Ajax, . j ■. Recounting the periods of stress and strain which the navy had endured, Mr Alexander said: " That we have emerged from. these_ periods when we were almost' aT6ne~in~* the" war at sea has to thCgallantry and devotion to. duty of the officers and , the men of the fleet in facing all dangers and risks which had to be met, to the conspicuous service of the merchant navy, and to the vast- amount of work turned out from the shipyards: , .. -'■ ~ ■ .-,,.' "The entry of the Japanese Navy on the side .of the : dictators had resulted in a further period of strain," he said, " but the collaboration. of the two fleets under plans concerted between Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt will work-firmly and relentlessly for the restoration of Allied sea power in Far Eastern waters—the advent of which can only result in the total defeat of Japan." Mr Alexander gave a warning that: it was essential that everyone snould understand the urgent needs of a continuous effort not only to maintain but to increase output, to deliver reinforcements to distant theatres of war, to help to sustain the Russian armies in their heavy and courageous : fight against the German land and air forces, and to maintain the supplies of fodd, raw materials, and munitions that Great Britain needs. Mr Churchill had performed one of the greatest services to the British Commonwealth and to the cause of freedom, not only by his courageous leadership, but bv his friendly, wise, and intimate co-opera-tion with the great statesman who led the American nation.