'PLANES FLY FAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 163, 12 July 1935, Page 14

'PLANES FLY FAST.

ENGLAND'S BULWARK.

A CHANGING OUTLOOK.

«AIR CONSCIOUS » GROWTH.

(By An American Correspondent.)

LONDON, May 30

Those 23 miles of wind-swept water between Dover and Calais, which for centuries before and unbrokenly since 1088 have kept foreign soldiers off English soil, are still fulfilling their second function—that of keeping the English people from worrying about war. Not so well, perhaps, as in other days, but still very well.

You come to England from France and you immediately find yourself among a people with a different mentality. You find that the English are almost wholly free from worry of approaching war. They are optimistic about economic recovery and about the immediate future of Europe. They believe they will wrangle through.

in Franco the entire mentality is different. With the memories of 1914 and 1870 still sharp, people- are genuinely worried about the possibility of war. They remember the Maine, which many of them regard as a miracle, and they fear that some day tliey may be called upon to do it ail over again. They look eastward to the Rhine and submit to heavy taxes anil the hardships of conscription so they may be ready if need bo and not be caught unprepared as in 1914.

When Briand was still alive and a republic still existed in Germany, they hope;! and felt that things would work out all right, but now, since Hitler's rise to power and the Reichswehr's domination over Germany, they are pessimistic.

You can see their worry everywhere, In small bars each new change in

foreign affairs is discussed. Hitler's ruthless purge of last June 30 was to the Frenchmen of extreme interest: he wanted to know whether it meant that war was nearer. The Stavisky scandal was much more than a foul politico-judiciary stench pot, for it set Frenchman against Frenchman and weakened the national defence. The passionate clinging to gold is explained also by concern about the drift of international affairs —Frenchmen feel that some day their gold may bo needed to bolster defence at home or abroad. In salons (for they still exist), the same worries are expressed. Not Their Concern. Then you come into England, crossing the straits of Dover and catching a glimpse of a coastline easily defended. If the English were a demonstrative race they would put up a statue to their straits,' the English Channel, and the North Sea, or there would be something like the annual marriage of Venice to the sea. '1 hoy are not demonstrative, so, instead, they sit behind their natural barriers of the sea and refuse to worry.

Thus you find there is practically no talk among the people of the possibility of war. In spite of the close call at Jutland and of Zeppelin and aeroplane raids, the English are optimistic and believe the straits, the channel, and the North Sea will go on doing their duty of protecting the English insularity. The war, in spite of Great Britain's tremendous losses, was more remote than to the French, and the British wore not so deeply touched, and the memories arc not so vivid.

In their gathering places, such as hotel lobbies or bars, you do not hear talk of war or the possibility of war. Instead, they talk business or swap stories when they do talk, which is seldom, a3 they do not consider conversation one of the amusing pastimes of life. If not business, they talk sports —horses and "the dogs," as they always call their greyhound racers. The English feel, as we Americans feel, that the dog fights of Europe are not their concern and, in spite of t! e Locarno treaties, they do not feel tint they will be drawn into a new war. They count on last minute wrangling to prevent that.

There are signs, though, that the old' faith in the sea barriers is not so strong as it was. Those signs are the increase in the Air Force and an improvement of the territorial Army, which, partly because* of the disbelief in the likelihood of war, has suffered a decline in recruiting in recent years. The Navy, which the people still think the supreme defender of the homeland, is kept up and new methods of making it more efficient than ever arc sought constantly. The age-old refusual to keep a large standing army is manitained steadfastly.

The Air Menace. Still another sign is the success of Lord Rothermere in the last few weeks in winning adherents to his national league of airmen. Through his "Daily Mail" and ' Evening News, which have been whipping up,interest by publishing common peoples accounts of air raids, Rothermere is trying to make Englishmen "air conscious." He wants Great Britain to have the world's greatest air fleet so that reprisals against an air invasion may be immediate and effective. He has had much success so far in enrolling members, both flyers and advocates of flying, and is continuing by planning lectures in which the air menace will be brought to public attention.

Another sign of a change is the Government's acceptance of a provisional accord with France for mutual defence against aerial aggression* in which accord Germany, Italy and Belgium ' have been asked to agree. There was plain talking between the English and French delegations, and one French delegate in an off-the-record talk to newspaper men remarked, " 'Planes move fast," a succinct enough admission of danger.

Ixmdon is practically vulnerable to attack, and the inhabitants would suffer frightfully if war came. Nothing has been done to provide bombproof shelters, such as those in Berlin and other German cities, and in few English houses are there any collars, .which would afford a modicum of protection, such as provided by the cellars of Paris and other French cities.

As in the World War, London's inhabitants would bo forced to leave their homes to take shelter in railroad stations, public buildings, subway stations, and warehouses. Against the great bombs and gas bombs now available, such shelters would not amount to much.

Still, despite what justifiable alarm is expressed now and again and despite the "stunt press" agitation, the English refuse to "get the windup."n« thcSr phrase goes. This is shown bv their comparative disinterest in politics, both internal and foreign, as shown by the popular newspapers, which give the; greater part of their space to what litifir? crime there is, to social gossip, and to' sports.