LANDING MADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24292, 5 June 1942, Page 3

LANDING MADE

COMMANDOS ACTIVE FRENCH COAST ATTACK BOULOGNE AREA ENTERED T,ONDON, June 4 Another Commando raid, in which all three services co-operated, was carried out on the French coast early this morning. The official communique, issued by the Combined Operations Headquarters, stated: "A minor reconnaissance raid was carried out on the enemy-occupied coast of France in the Boulogne-Le Touquet area. "The military raiding force consisted of special service troops, and valuable information was obtained. The re-em-barkation of the troops by units of the Royal Xavy was covered by aircraft of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command. The Royal Xavy provided naval escort for the forces. Our casualties were slight." This is the fourth British raid on German-occupied France in about three months. The last to be announced was the attack on Boulogne in April. In March, a landing party stormed St. Xazaire, and in February British paratroops raided Bruneval. This is the eighth landing on occupied territory since March of last year. HIGH FOOD PRICES RETAILERS NOT TO BLAME LONDON, June 3 "There is something rotten in the state of England, where essential foods cost the consumer from tivo to five times what is paid the producer," said Lord Bledisloe in a speech in the House of Lords. There was no country in the world where under normal conditions there was a larger spread between producer's reward and consumer's cost, Lord Bledisloe added. Lord Teviot declared that the cost of distributing foodstuffs was excessive. High prices were leading to malnutrition. The retailor was not to blame. Those handling the food between the producer and the retailer should be dealt with. NATION BEFORE PARTY NO SECTIONAL PROGRAMME (Rec.fi. 10.40 p.m.) CANBERRA, June 4 "The Labour Party objective of the nationalisation of banking should not be introduced during the war," said the Prime Minister, Mr. J. Curtin, in the House of Representatives. He was replying to Mr. P. C. Spender, a former Treasurer, who asked whether the I Prime Minister had said that nationalisation of banking could not be put into effect because the Government lacked a majority in both Houses. Mr. Curtin said it was considered that the measure should not be introduced because of the requirements of the war and the state of the political parties in the two Houses. "This Government came into office at a time of great emergency," Mr. Curtin said. "It does not abandon its social programme, but neither does it regard the postponement of reforms until the war is won as an illogical procedure. Where the war can be served by applying general Labour principles to certain aspects of the national structure, they will be applied but no sectional political programme will be pursued except for such part as is in the best interests of a nation in war." FUTURE OF AIR TRANSPORT (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, June a The British press gives prominence to the advantages of the Allied Xations developing air transport in its comments on the shipping position and on the arrangements being made by .Mr. Oliver Lvttelton, the .Minister of War Production, for closer British and American co-operation in production. An improvement in the shipping situation is predicted, but one paper comments that the attention given to air transport is encouraging because the scarcity of shipping will remain. NEW PLANE MOTOR (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) WASHINGTON, June 3 The Xavy revealed to-day that it had developed a liquid-cooled aircraft motor and had awarded the contract for production to the Aviation Corporation. The new motor is considerably larger than any in use at present. It will have sufficient power to compare favourably with the largest type of air-cooled engines. The engine develops 2000 horsepower. The Xavy states that the development of this extraordinary power plant follows on the same general line as the construction adopted by the Army. JOIN WAR CABINET REPRESENTATIVES OF INDIA NEW DELHI, June 3 The Maharajah of Xawauagar and Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, .Minister of Commerce and Minister of Labour respectively, are reported to be joining the Imperial War Cabinet.