THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Monday, October 1, 1945. A BRIGADE FOR JAPAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25962, 1 October 1945, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Monday, October 1, 1945. A BRIGADE FOR JAPAN

The public will learn this morning with surprise and, it is to be apprehended, with disappointment and even with indignation in many quarters, that the return to New Zealand of a substantial proportion of the armed forces of the Dominion who are now in Italy and Egypt will be materially delayed as a result of a decision by the Government that a balanced brigade shall be made available for temporary employment elsewhere. In response to a request from the Government of the United Kingdom, the Dominion Government has undertaken to bear its share in the provision and equipment of Imperial troops that are to be associated with representatives of the other Allied armies in the military occupation of Japan. There is scarcely likely to be any serious disagreement in the Dominion with the policy of the ac-' ceptance by the Government of the responsibility of making a suitable contribution to the composition of the Imperial contingent that is to be utilised in this manner. The commitments of the Government in relation to the war cannot* be reasonably said to have been completely discharged from the moment when the surrender of the enemy was made. While we may speak loosely of the hostilities having been brought to an end, the war will, in a purely technical sense, not be over until the peace treaty has been signed. Even if the public may be inclined to take exception to any such rigid construction as this of the effects of the responsibilities that were incurred by the Dominion when it entered into the war against Germany, and in the natural course of events became involved in the war against Japan, it has to be recognised that the armed forces of the country were not freed from their obligations to the Government when the last shot in the conflict was fired and the last bomb was dropped. There were still certain operations that had to be performed in the process of pressing home the advantages gained by the Allied nations through their triumph over the enemy and of disarming him and of destroying such capacity for mischief as he may yet possess. As will be remembered, a British army of occupation, in which troops from the dominions formed a part, entered Germany in 1918, and a strictly normal procedure is being followed in the occupation of Japan at the present time by forces of the victorious Powers. It would be unfortunate, in view of all the circumstances, if the Imperial contribution to the army of occupation did not include members of the Second Expeditionary Force from New Zealand, particularly as, by common consent, it rendered conspicuous service in the achievement of the United Nations’ success. It would unquestionably have been desirable to secure by voluntary enlistment the men who will represent the Dominion in the Imperial force that will be constituted. But it cannot be regarded as astonishing on the authority of General Freyberg that trained volunteers to the number that are required should not be obtainable at short notice. Their period of inaction since their fighting in Italy terminated may be credited as having made them very restless and as having created in them an intense impatience to return home and resume their place in the civil life of the community to which they belong. The fact, however, that sufficient volunteers are not available to compose the brigade which the Government has agreed to supply for the occupation of Japan, does not absolve it from its undertaking. It may readily be believed that it is highly distasteful to it that it should have to resort to steps that may conceivably be described as amounting to compulsion in order that it may furnish the Dominion’s contribution to the occupational force. The unpleasant alternative would seem to be the repudiation of an undertaking that had been given to the British Government. The argument that has influenced the decision to direct unmarried members of the Expeditionary Force to a short term of fresh service is apparently two-fold. The men who will be affected by it are still subject to their military obligations, and the period of service in Japan will extend by only a comparatively few weeks the term of their absence from the Dominion, for the Prime Minister states that the difficulties of transport are still so serious that in the most favourable circumstances it may not be until March or April next that the final draft from Italy will reach New Zealand. It is possible to sympathise with the Government in the unpalatable decision which it has had to make. In all likelihood its critics will be more numerous than those who will applaud it.