LOYAL ULSTER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 185, 20 May 1941, Page 8

LOYAL ULSTER.

•S 3 ir-STA#. .WITH. .'BRITAIN. .'- Irish--affairs in relation to the Avar have been largely considered in . the light of the neutrality of Eire and the Consequent withholding from Britain of important naval bases. - But another part of Ireland is not neutral and in an article in the “News-Letter,” Miss Margaret Kirkland pays a . tribute to the loyalty of Bister, “a powerful little outpost of. tho United Kingdom, and British Commonwealth, standing on guard ready to smash an invader and' at the "Same 'time, protecting night, and day one of the vital sea. and air approaches from the "Western world.” 7?* “It is commonly reported,” writes Miss Kirkland, “that Hitler began fra.riy. to think of , applying his Norwegian conquest plan to Eire and Ulster as a means of slamming Britain’s hack door, apd no doubt he still cherishes the idea. But Ulster to-day is virtually a 'great, .armed camp, ready for any..tlfing that Hitler may came t.o attempt. /“As before, the xvar, ' but now in immensely, greater strength, the Royal .Navy, is. thei;o j so is the Royal Air Force ; while, a strong, well-trained and highly, mobile British Army -awaits any challenge. Behind them stand 30,000 Horne Guards, largely expert riflemen, who work in the closest co-operation with the Regular Forces.”

Miss Kirkland points out that military ..conscription as it is practised in Britain does not apply to Ulster. Nevertheless,; the province maintains several regiments in the Army, while there has. been no shortage of recruits, for' the Navy and the Air Force. At the top of the Army tree are three Ulstermen—General Sir John Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff; General Sir Alan Brooke, Commantler-in-Chicf of the Homo Forces; and LieutenantGeneral H. 11. G. L. Alexander, commanding the .Southern Command and one of the heroes of Dunkirk.

. In the field of industry, munitions of all kinds are being turned out in vast quantities, but equally important is the export of linen to America—the second largest single item in the establishment of dollar credits. Before the war, flax in bilge quantities was imported from the' Continent for the linen industry, but now home flax-growing is being developed and Ulster farmers this year hope to cultivate 100,000, acres—five times the area growing flax in 1939.

Ulster’s aid to Britain has also taken other forms, Miss Kirkland continues. By voluntary subscription £85,000 was raised in a few weeks for the purchase of 17 Spitfires and the sales of National Savings Certificates and Defence Bonds are now approaching £6,000,000. In a supplementary war Budget, provision was made for the gift of £5,000,000 to the British Exchequer for war purposes and a recent War Weapons Week produced £6,78-1,889. In the first year of the war alone Ulstermen lent to the United Kingdom, a total of £8,250,000. • -There is c’ohsidofa.bTe food production iiv Ulster,;.but the people have accepted rationing l ;qn.„tjiff:' sa.nip .basis as those ini«)ngiand, Scotland and Wales. Meat, bacon and eggs a re-sent to swell the United Kingdom pool and liquid milk supplies iliave recently', been : diverted from Ulster creameries to meet a temporary shortage- in -certain parts of Britain. The supply is expected to Teach drtc'ti'cm * Kars' trtcreiiscd enormously - in tber'pttst- 4 B^rinonthg t :;i ; w