GREAT BRITAIN AND DEFENCE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22318, 4 February 1938, Page 10

GREAT BRITAIN AND DEFENCE

♦ Protection for Civil Population AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS (Specially written for "The Press" by J. R. HALL.) LONDON, January 8. A.R.P. has been admitted into "initialese." the language people use to save that time and effort which thev promptly waste in other and more trivial directions. A.R.P. stands for Air Raids Precautions. The British are not as fertile in coim; " 'initialese" as are their cousins across the Atlantic, nor are they so ready to accerjt new coinage into the currency of the language; when a newcomer is accepted, his standing is bevond question. This week ARP'has received the ultimate endorsement for popular usage: it appeared as a first heading in The Times." . , Of itself, that occurrence is ol little moment. The larger fact behind it is of some importance. An Raids Precautions have come into the everyday life of the people of the United Kingdom; men, women, and children. The Board of Education has circularised schools. All school children," it is announced, "will be provided with respirators, which they will „carry to and from school." It is not a pleasant thought, that one of the trimmings of education (which ought to enlighten our lives) should have to be instruction in protecting ourselves against the effects of man's reversion to barbarism. Realising this, the Home Office, which is charged with the oversight and organisation of precautions, takes a sensible view. Speaking to the Incorporated Association of Headmasters', gathered in annual conference at the London Guildhall on Wednesday, Wing Commander Hodsoll, director of the work, said, "We do not want to start educating our children in all this sort of thing." At some time, however, he added, children would have to be taught how to wear a respirator. That would be done in their own homes. On the other hand, if headmasters thought it should be done at school, the Home Office would give all the assistance necessary. Everyone in the Kingdom would be given a respirator in time of. emergency, and it was part of the Home Office arrangements that everybody should be taught in peace time how to wear one. The headmasters favoured the home instruction. Preparing to Avert War This is typical of the thorough and businesslike manner in which Great Britain is going about her distasteful task of rearming and preparing to defend her civil population. There are in building to-day British warships to a total tonnage of 450,000. Orders about to be placed will bring the total above 500,000 tons, and the cost to more than £ 125,000,000. Never previously in peace time has the Royal Navy been built up so quickly. Progress in strengthening the Royal Air Force is as fast, and to the public eye more spectacular. One of the most noteworthy aspects of the situation, indeed, Is the extent to which the details of rearmament are open to the public eye; another of complementary importance is the way in which the public mind, set against war as never before, has accepted the defence programme as a necessity; unfortunate, perhaps, but none the less a necessity. It must be reassuring to the Government, as also to the Opposition, which mostly supports the Government, that there is no body of contrary opinion in the electorate. The Home peoples are as quick as we are in New Zealand to work up controversies, and the slight handicap of their being all more or less agreed on main principles does not prevent animated and voluble disagreement on points of detail. Accordingly, there is opposition to the Government's proposals. It is opposition, however, as likely to come from supporters as from political opponents, and it is the sort of opposition that, from whichever quarter it may come, would fly as fog before a wind were crisis to beset the nation. Although unquestionably there is a stronger sentiment for peace in Great Britain today, than there was in 1914, if a defensive war had to be waged it would have full popular support. Happily, the situation in Europe looks less menacing than it did sue months ago. Britain and Germany weem to be closer together, and that wijhout harm to the association of Britain with France. It probably would be untrue to say that Britain is closer to Italy than she was; but at least their drift apart has been stopped. Lord Londonderry, who was a Minister in one of the earlier National Governments, in a New Year newspaper article published in the North of England, suggests that "during the last few years" foreign policy has been opportunist, and that the nation's leaders have alienated its friends "through misunderstandings which should never bave arisen and which we seem unable to remove." The charge of alienating friends, prompted, no doubt, by his lordship's personal relationships with earlier Prime Ministers, cannot fairly be taken to include Mr Chamberlain's Administration. In its foreign policy, probably the present Government is the most opportunist since 1931. which is to say it lives from hand to mouth and does not know where it may be going; but it has shown, and is showing, commendable restraint in the face of a provoking succession of ugly "incidents" in the Far East, together with a consistent desire to make friends in Europe rather than enemies. Policy Reflects Public Opinion This desire may not be fulfilled, and even its partial realisation may involve Britain in constituent inconsistencies There can be no doubting, however, that it reflects the public mind.. Every night for a year and more the newsreels in every cinema in England have been holding up to patrons the war in Spain; of recent months that in China has been added. And now A.RJP trips knowingly off the popular tongue, toddlers are to be equipped ■with respirators for use against gas attack, and everyone who can afford it includes in the olans for his new bouse a bomb-proof underground shelter. The British public knows what war can mean for civilian populations. Knows that English cities and"s the peaceful English countryside can ho longer expect to escape devastation should war come. There is strong support, therefore, for a foreign policy which seeks to secure peace by going out of the way to make friends. .Whether that sentiment would be strong enough to override considerations of international right and wrong in Europe is doubtful- Britain still values honour above peace. But ■while hope remains of preserving peace with honour, the Chamberlain policy of friendliness deserves, and is receiving, the thoroughgoing support of the electorate. Neither Fascist nor Nazi is the Prime Minister. As good a democrat as ever sat at Westminster, he believes that the internal government of a country is exclusively a matter for its own people. He sees no reason why democratic Britain and democratic France should not be friendly with dictator nations. The degree of friendship is another matter. Nevertheless, ft is highly encouraging that ftut&ey&ote of British foreign policy WW*. New Year-should be one of

friendly overtures to all her neighbours. This does not imply approval of German Jew-baiting or of Russian purges; it does appear to be a com-mon-sense contribution to the sadly strained cause of world harmony.