PROTECTING THE PORT OF LONDON

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 259, 31 July 1939, Page 9

PROTECTING THE PORT OF LONDON

Elaborate Preparation For Emergency (British Official Wireless.) (Received July 30, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, July 29. A carefully prepared scheme of control and protection for the Port, of London in the event of war has, it is confidently declared, put the port into a state in which in all circumstances its business will be carried on. The Port of London Authority has devoted special attention to the protection of men working in the docks system and has allocated £250,000 for air-raid protection of them. All vital points have been protected, and over three miles and a half of trenches are available for refuge from blast and splinters. More than 30,000 workers are being safeguarded in the authority’s own dock area, while the owners of wharves and warehouses for 30 or 40 miles on each bank of the Thames have arranged for similar protection for their own staffs. Moorings have been placed for about 78 ships in the lower reaches of the Thames. Small craft organizations with some 10,000 barges and tugs capable of handling 1,000,000 tons of cargo have been organized into a pool, and should any single dock system be put out of action all these resources would be at the service of the port. Arrangements have also been made for evacuating essential foodstuffs and dangerous goods.