FREE NATIONS WOULD GET NO BREATHING SPACE IF WAR CAME

Wanganui Chronicle, 19 December 1950, Page 5

FREE NATIONS WOULD GET NO BREATHING SPACE IF WAR CAME

CANBERRA, Dec. 18 (Recd. 6pm). —“We cannot expect, any breathing space in the event of a third worldi war," said the Prime Minister (Mr. Menzies), addressing the first meeting of the newly-formed National Security Resources Board. “If the course of events brings l tl;e Great Powers to lhe point of open military conflict, there will be an immediate call for complete mobilisation of the nation for participation in the defence of the free world,” he said. “Unless there is a change in Soviet foreign policy, such as cannot al present be foreseen, the best prospect we can hope for is to live through difficult years marked by a continuous alert, years in which we shall have no alternative but Io strengthen our defences and make all the necessary preparations lor a supreme crisis that we must at the same time endeavour to avoid by all the means in our power.”

He added that in the event of war Australia would pe forced to jettison immigration and long-range developmental plans as well as many public works and private investment projects. As war was not inevitable, It would not be sound to move at the moment to convert Australian economy to a full war footing. Such a move would play into the hands of unfriendly Powers by destroying the prospects of social and economic progress. The soundest defence polcy for the present was to continue to build the industrial and economic foundations of the nation, and at the same time prepare for future prospective mobilisation He did not accept the vie\" that, the economic situation was already out of hand. The Government would reinstitute capital issues control and some measure of control over critical materials. He advocated that lhe board should establish a panel of women consultants to prepare lhe women’s role in a future emergency.