GREATER CAPACITY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21817, 21 November 1940, Page 5

GREATER CAPACITY

Australia Will Help To The Last Man British Official Wireless (Received November 20, 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, November 19. Broadcasting in the “Dominion Commentary,” the Australian High Commissioner (Mr S. M. Bruce) spoke of the "undying debt nf gratitude" the whole world owed to the people of Britain for their cool confidence and unshakeable courage in face of the Nazi endeavour to break their morale. “We express admiration and gratitude for all you have done. I give you from Australia the same message Mr Andrew Fisher, our Labour Prime Minister gave you in 1914: ’We are with you to the last man and the last shilling’.” For this end, Mr Bruce said, Australia was putting forth the maximum efforts at sea and in the air. He recalled that in the last war 1,000.000 troops despatched by the Dominions played no small part in final victory. The expansion in population indicated how much greater that contribution could be in this war. Time prevented him from giving more than one illustration of how much greater was Australia’s capacity to help to-day than in 1918. During last war Australia had on active service four air squadrons, and 600 pilots, observers and other officers. That small force shot down and otherwise destroyed 527 enemy aircraft. In this war Australia had undertaken to provide a fully-equipped trained air force of 57,000 men of whom 40 000 had already enlisted from 130,000 applicants.