AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA

Southland Times, Issue 24757, 30 May 1942, Page 5

AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA

UNITED WAR EFFORT (Rec. 7 pm.) MELBOURNE, May 29. “I feel we are going to have a tory here. In fact, I am sure of it, said Mr W. S. Wasserman, leader ot the United States Lend-Lease mission to Australia, in a speech. I have found very little to criticize in -Australia and a great deal to praise. There should be no spheres but just a single dedication, a single ideal and command. There must never be any question whether this in an Australian or an American job. It is an Allied job, which has to be done. I feel certain that petty distinctions will disappear in the magnitude of the effort before us.” Mr Wasserman said he was convinced a post-war depression need not be feared if the vast machinery of war-time production was later converted to produce wealth for everybody. To put that machinery to work goodwill, freedom of exchange and the development of Lend-Lease principles

would be needed. He hoped that when the battle was over many of the distinctions and boundaries which had kept Australia and America apart would be eliminated. Americans had always felt that Australians were their nearest and closest British cousins. SUPPLIES FOR AUSTRALIA

The United States should reach its production peak in the autumn (about October), according to LieutenantGeneral B. B. Somervell, Chief of the United States Army Supply Services, who is in London, states a British Official Wireless message. The production of tanks was going particularly well, he said, and in most lines production was ahead of schedule. Much was being achieved in the standardization of all arms from small arms to tanks. He made it clear that Australia would not suffer in the matter of supply. It was possible to send supplies on a large scale to Britain and Australia at the same time. The main problem was transport.