Call To Reality

Waikato Times, Volume 130, Issue 21655, 16 February 1942, Page 6

Call To Reality

FATE OF SINGAPORE DANGER BROUGHT NEARER NEW ZEALAND RESPONSE PRIME MINISTER SPEAKS (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Monday The following statement was made by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, this afternoon:— “The fall of Singapore is a severe blow to the Allied cause. To the democracies in the Pacific it is at once an increased menace and a further call for additional effort, and even more unremitting work to stem the advance of the enemy, to prepare with all possible speed and efficiency to meet any further attacks that may be made on Allied territory, and to lay surely and truly a foundation of ultimate victory—a task in which the Allies in the Pacific are very closely and effectively co-oper-ating. “In my opinion Mr Winston Churchill’s speech struck a truly realistic and unflinching note. He hid nothing of the seriousness of the loss; he faced the adverse consequences of the fall of the city, and the naval base, analysing its effect on the whole world-war situation, and examined very frankly the position in all the fields of war activity. Mr Churchill’s speech was again a clarion call to all of us neither to falter nor fail. “New Zealand responded instand. In every New Zealand heart today there is increased determination to strive more strenuously than ever for victory. Our future as a nation, our future as part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, the safety of our own shores, the faith of all our people and of our children, and future generations in our fair land, depends upon the sincere, energetic and efficient way in which we shoulder our responsibilities.” No Room for Panic Mr Fraser continued: “It would be idle and wrong to pretend that the fall of Singapore had not brought the danger nearer to our shores. It has done so, and while there is ample cause for well-grounded concern there is no room for foolish or frantic panic. We will never flinch nor tremble; we will not fall into undignified complaining, or weeping, or grizzling, or indulge in stupid or uninformed, unhelpful carping. “Criticism about the joint war effort is to be deplored. All the forces and means at their disposal could not possibly overcome the huge handicaps ot time and material which confronted them. New Zealanders will face courageously whatever situation develops. It will do so with assurance and dignity ,as well as with courage. “Our danger, which' I do not minimise, will decrease in ratio with the effort we make to build up resistance to any possible attack, and to contribute to the programme for victory now being planned progressively and increasingly operated by the Mother Country, Great Britain; by our sister Dominion, Australia; by our great Allies, the United States of America; and by our other great partners in the Pacific, the Netherlands East Indies and China, as well as India and Burma.”