LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 143, 18 June 1940, Page 5

LONDON LETTER.

WINSTON'S RETREAT. THE NAZIS IN IRELAND. FIFTH COLUMN STORY. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, May 20.

Mr. Churchill, as everybody knows, is not a man of wealth. He lives by his pen. With the possible exception of Ramsay Mac Donald, he is probably the least wealthy prime Minister Britain has ever had. But lie is the only Premier in recent years who happens to possess a country house within easy reach of London. He is very "fond of his place at Westerhani, in Kent, scene of his celebrated brick-laying activities. Mr. Churchill is, therefore, likely to make much less use than his predecessors did of Chequers, the Buckinghamshire mansion which Lord Lee presented to the nation as a week-end retreat for the Prime Minister of the day. At the moment, Mr. Churchill cannot leave London even for a week-end. When he docs take a brief rest it will certainly be at Westerhani. Chequers, meanwhile, is available not only for the Prime Minister. Lord Lee's endowment provided that if the Premier did not wish to use the mansion, it could l>e occupied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Foreign Secretary, the Colonial Secretary, the American Ambassador and certain other leaders whom he named in order of priority. Whoever uses Chequers gets a sum oi £15 for each week-end spent there to defray expenses. Eyes on Eire. Anxious eyes are being turned just uow to the westward of England, where lies a little neutral State even more defenceless than Holland and Belgium Will Hitler's next stroke be an attempt to invade Eire, whence he might launcl attacks on these shores? Germany's lack of sea power makes the adventure unlikely, but there is no doubt that the Nazis have been very activc in Eire since some time before the war.

There is the usual enormous Legation staff, which the Germans maintain in small countries in which they are "interested." And German "journalists' 3 and "business men" are very numerous ill Dublin. Eire has no large defence forces. She has within her borders a small but active trouble-making element in the I.R.A.—who may not be proGrerman, but are certainly anti-British. To set against these grouuds for nervousness, there is the fact that relations between Britain and Eire are more cordial now than they have been for some time. One of Mr. Churchill's first ictions on becoming Prime Minister, was ;o send a friendly telegram to Mr. Do V'alera, expressing his confidence that the two countries wpuld "cordially co>perate." Price of German Advance. Germany, in her colossal attack, is jeing most prodigal of her most precious tvar material—petrol. That is ore of :he reasons which convince military ixperts that she is gambling on a swift victory. If, as the Allies estimate, she is using 3000 tanks in the big push, their fuel consumption must be at least 1000 tons for every day of the onslaught. The heaviest tanks consume six gallons Df petrol per mile, and the lightest one gallon. The fuel consumption of the enemy lircraft is even greater than that of the tanks. Probably nearly 1500 bombers ind fighters are engaged, and a rough estimate places their daily petrol requirements at 1600 tons. Add to this the fuel used by troop-carrying aircraft armoured cars and supply vehicles, an<i it may safely be said that the Na» pusl is costing nearly 3000 tons of this preci ous liquid every day. Whatever hit hopes of supplies from Russia and Rumania, Hitler cannot possibly fight a long war at this rate. America Looks On. No section of foreign opinion about the war is more eagerly watched here than that of the United States. There is, of course, no doubt on which side America's sympathy lies. What Englishmen ask is: "What are you going to do about it?" And the answer is always changing. The latest pool taken bv the Institute of Public Opinion show that 51 per cent of Americans believe that the United States will enter the war. In October, just after the war started, 46 p< cent of Americans thought their

I sountry would become involved. But four months later the number who expected America to fight for the Alliai lia'd dwindled to 32 per cent. So the a test figure of 51 per cent represents 1 big swing-over towards intervention. 3n the other hand, the same poll show* that only 55 per cent of Americans now Relieve the Allies will win, as compared with 82 per cent at the outset of the .var. Perhaps that is why opinion ha* swung over to intervention. Fifth Column Housemaids. One of the many '"Fifth Column* stories now current concerns the German servant girls who were once so lumerous in England. By no means all >f them were Jewish refugees. Some months before the war began the Gernan Embassy in London ordered, them lo go home to the Fatherland. Xow, via Holland, comes the report , that these girls have been incorporated in Hitler's parachute squads. A girl, it is said, is attached to each group of parachutists. The idea is that she will be dropped with the men over an area in England where she worked as a servant. Knowing the country, she would be able to guide them in their work of sabotage. Police inquiries are being made about several reported cases of impersonation before the medical boards which examine young men called up for military service. Fit men are alleged to have bribed physically defective men to impersonate tlieui before the medical boards. The scheme is for the shirker to register with his age-group on the appointed day. Later, when he is summoned for modical examination, h» hands his registration card to a physical weakling. The latter is. of course, rejected as unfit for service, and the fact is stamped on the registration card he presents. He then returns the card to its original owner, who thus has documentary "proof" that be is unfit. Perhaps because people have an uneasy feeling that it is wrong to_ "luxury" foods in wartime, some of the traditional delicacies of the season are quite out of favour this year. Those famous hothouse strawberries, which used to fetch a shilling or two per berry, are now selling at a mere 3/' a pound — with few buyers. Asparagus is, as on» Covent Garden dealer remarked in disgust, "as cheap as cabbage." Housewives are buyinsr it «t Od a bundle, instead of 2/ or 3/.