CIVIL LIBERTIES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 282, 23 August 1940, Page 9

CIVIL LIBERTIES

Restitution After The War PLEDGE IN BRITAIN Present Sacrifice Needed I For Swift Action (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 21. \ The Secretary of Air, Sir Archi- j bald Sinclair, in the course of a j broadcast today spoke of the ncces- | sity to make sacrifices in liberty in order to arm the Government with powers needed £or swift action. “We shall win the war,” be said, “because we mean to show that a democracy can be as swift and formidable in action as a dictatorship. Nevertheless, it should be our concern to ensure that civil liberties are not put in lasting jeopardy. -Mr. Churchill has authorized me to give you this message: that it is the intention of the Government to preserve in all essentials a free Parliament and a free Press, that all these emergency measures which restrict the liberty of the subject shall disappear with the passing of the Emergency Powers Act, and that the extraordinary powers entrusted to the Executive will vanish with the advent of xictoij and peace. “Then, with the instrument ot freedom'in our hands and something of the daring of the young pilot in our hearts, we must fashion, you and I not an easier or softer world, but one in which free men and women will have a better and fuller life ana more opportunity and scope for realizing the best in them.” STOOD TEST WELL British A.R.P. Organization (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 21. Addressing A.R.P. wardens and members of the London County Council ambulance service, the Minister of Home ‘Security. Sir Joint Anderson, expressed himself satisfied with the working of the A.R.P. organization in the recent raids. He said he had personal opportunity of observing the efficiency of the service when he visited three of the most heavily bombed areas. A great strain had been imposed in some places and there would be much greater strain before the war finished, and the organization must be prepared for anything. ... “But there is one thing 1 think you need not be prepared for,” he said, “and that is any announcement such as we saw in the Press this morning has been made in Germany to the effect that they had recast entirely their civil defence organization as the result of the intensity of the British air operations against military objectives in Germany.” GUNS ON FRENCH COAST German Film Issued LONDON, August 21. Berlin cinemas are showing a newsreel of German troops moving enormous long-range guns into positions on the French coast. Others have been moved to the shore on turntables to enable them to be fired in any direction. NOTE FROM GERMANY Treatment Of Parachutists (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 2.1. The communication from the German Government about the treatment of parachutists has now reached the British Government and is receiving attention. A reply will be sent in due course. It is generally assumed that this will make it clear that if they are in uniform parachutists landing in Britain will be treated in the same way as soldiers invading this country by other means. HONOURS FOR AIRMEN Total Of R.A.F. Recipients (British Official Wireless.) (Received August 22, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, August 21. The Secretary of Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, told the House of Commons today that the Distinguished I'lyinh Cross had been awarded to 349 officers, 339 of whom were pilots, and the Distinguished Flying Medal to 221 airmen, 52 of them sergeant-pilots. BRITISH SCRAP-HEAP Collecting Wreckage From Nazi Air Force • LONDON, August 21. Speaking about German raids on Britain, a commentator said that there was a field in England ■where wrecked German planes of every description were piled, and every day lorries carrying more planes added io the scrapheap. One day the valuable metal from the .planes would be taken and returned to Germany with interest. Hitler, .he said, had. not yet added England to ills vassal States, but here there was some corner of a foreign field that was for ever Deutschland. ACCELERATING ISSUE OF AIR NEWS LONDON, August 21. Replying to complaints, particularly from America, about delays in British news of air battles, the Minister of Information. Mr. Duff Cooper, said in the House of Conions: — “Tlie German propagandists have two considerable advantages. First of all, they have previous knowledge of when a raid is occurring; secondly, they have a complete diwregard of tlie truth, enabling them to begin sending false accounts to America before their machines have reached this country.” He added that he was arranging to accelerate tlie dispatch of news. THE CASUALTIES AMONG PARLIAMENTARIANS LONDON, August 21. Fourteen members of the House ot Lords and of the House of Commons have been killed in action, are missing, or have been made prisoners of war.