| Show WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS by edward C wayne jap invasion bases in new guinea strengthen drive against australia promised dominion status f for or india fails to result in expected harmony EDITORS NOTE when opinions are expressed in theme columns they are theme of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper I 1 released by western newspaper union olzo a cinto r a 4 a 00 1 a 0 RT a W 50 IS Thurs dail ak c C arnhem iso groote 13 4 elandt r reports from australia emphasize the importance of allied attacks on the japanese invasion bases of Sala maua and lae in northeast new guinea from Sala maua to thursday island off the northern tip of australia the distance is miles from port moresby the nearest major harbor to the mainland to cape york on the northern australian tip the distance is little more than miles on the spot hardly had the battle of java reached the mopping up stages than the battle for the approaches of australia had started with rumblings gs from within the continent that the aussien were far from pleased with the amount of preparedness they had the signal for the beginning of the curtain raiser for the attempted invasion of australia had closely followed mhd shutdown shut down of communications with java and came at the same time news was received that S some ome australian troops badly needed at home were still fighting a hopeless fight on the island of java the spearhead of the projected invasion was app apparently ardently to be based on the island of new guinea just to the north of the continent and immediately threatening it as the shortest airline flight from the east indies the japs had landed large forces at Sala maua lae and at ven and had been busily engaged in ca consolidating these positions as bases of supplies this was enough to set at rest any doubts australians might have had that india and not they were going to be next on the jap time table not only that but the japanese with brutal frankness had broadcast that australia was going to suffer the same fate as had the dutch east indies how much american aid and reinforcement in already was in australia was dubious and a closely guarded military secret if we were weak the military leaders naturally want the japs to know how weak and if we were strong enough to defeat them when and if they should land these same leaders want to warn them off the only stories concerning the amount of aid had come from mcdaniel who had written that the town of perth was so full of american troops that it looked like an american city and from british correspondent harr whose dispatch had caused an immediate tempest which gone anywhere at all harr it was who apparently writing from the midst of an american convoy bound to australia had said that the sea was covered with ships and that hundreds of americas best fighting pilots were aboard america also was sending men from the plains states he added but gave no hint of their status it was from australian leaders themselves that the hint came that the continent was ill prepared one said it is the plan of the japanese to attack us before we can get prepared and before we can receive reinforcements secrecy had muddled the picture for americans but certain it was that in going after australia the japs were really biting off a chunk which would take a bit of chewing for find no fifth column there waiting to be taken over JINDIA INDIA britaina Brit ains problem churchill had informed commons which had been demanding some forthright action on the problem of hindustan that nothing could be done now but repeating his promise of dominion status for india after the war so far this problem was the most trying one facing the british in burma they had found what they were up against with the burm burmese ese revolutionaries bining joining the japs and many of the others turning frankly against all white men the british defenders of burma cut off by these tactics had been forced to retreat more and more and finally in a daring maneuver had struck northward and had smashed their way close to their chinese allies what britain feared more than anything was a frank and open uprising of all of indias andias people and to this the best churchill could do had been to r re e offer what had been offered back in august 1940 and which apparently had accomplished complis hed nothing but this time he went a little further he told the india indians ns that the government had adopted a definite plan as to how the dominion status would be carried out and that he was sending his own right hand man sir stafford cripps personally to india to explain it all to them indias andias religious and caste problems were admittedly severe and whether cripps could dig his hand into india and come out with brit ains little white rabbit remained to be seen he was a miracle man in russia and a miracle man before commons could he perform a third in this war britain hoped so TAXES millions pay millions of americans many of them making their first trip to uncle sams tax windows wm aws had made their income tax returns for 1942 but only a percentage of them were able to pay the full amount at the same time aime they were aware that 1943 taxes would be much higher and there were thousands who had a different picture of their family budgets after making their returns than they did before in the meantime in washington though some government authorities were against the sales tax as putting the burden on the weak began serious ser consideration of some form of sales tax as being probably less painful and more sure of large returns than increased income levies the house ways and means committee had taken the bit between its teeth in demanding that treasury officials furnish them with data on the probable yield of some form of sales tax secretary had talen taken the position that a sales tax would be not only inequitable putting the heaviest burden on the poor but that it would be inflationary NAZIS need man power for spring drive whether germany was planning peace or not london had been hearing reports that the nazis were seriously short of manpower which was needed lor for the spring offensive against russia the first indication of this was when the nazis issued an estimate of losses thus far in the war which was by far the largest figure they had ever admitted though still far short of the reds claims the germans admitted loss of 0 men since the start of the war and said that half of these had been lost in the winter on the russian front the report had come out of london that the nazis now were asking for fresh troops from italy hungary and slovakia for the spring off offensive soviet authorities claimed that the germans had lost men on the russian winter front alone of these killed seriously wounded and the rest missing or prisoner of the new troops germany was said to be asking for from hungary from italy and from slovakia rumania was said to have given an army of last fall but the reds asserted that practically all of these had been wiped out HARA KIRI on bataan though there had been little action on bataan peninsula there had been a change in japanese commanders with general homma reported to have plunged a ceremonial knife into his own rotund vitals and general the conqueror of malaya reportedly taking over in his place in the best tradition of the samurai to be replaced by another general as having failed calls for a quiet trip into a secluded room there to take a swift trip to visit ones ancestors no soft berth at a desk awaits the unsuccessful commander in the field for him comes swift dishonor and death just as swift at his own hand such is the code of the samurai when general homma met general macarthur he met more than a superior general and superior fighting men he met the end of the road at the time was organizing gan izing his forces for the purpose oft of wiping out macarthur and thus wiping away his predecessors dishonor or of encountering some of his own there was a huge demand b t CAI M GEN HOMMA death the samurai tradition sweeping the country for some definite answer as to why substantial aid could not be sent to the philippines accompanying this was some fairly sharp criticism of the administration and its conduct of the war but in the main the response of the public to the send aid to macarthur campaign was rather a tribute to a hero than any suggestion as to how the job might possibly be done the president had told his press conference you tell me how to get the help there and ill send it to this poser the answer had not yet come MOVING DAY for aliens pacific coast residents were told that the huge machinery for moving about necessary enemy aliens and american citizens of 0 f japanese extraction out of the coastal area was finally complete the work of moving them the government had said might P start any day where they would be sent there had bad been little hint but io two sections had been mentioned them in one of idaho and another in colorado it was to be a huge task but with the the pacific war going as it had been in white residents pacific of the coast would breathe easily when more they had gone |
