BRITAIN MOVES

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 144, 14 December 1935, Page 18

BRITAIN MOVES

IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

SHOWING HER STRENGTH

A NEW. ATMOSPHERE

' As we arrived at Suez it showed a ** boom in readiness with a tug standing .r by, writes Gerald Stanley in the "Daily Telegraph." A ship had passed us in *;the night—a trim cruiser now at anchor. There were other ships with ;' the White Ensign flying. They knew ' •- about Italian submarines which were v passing through the Canal, but they i'were not worried. They knew about the aeroplanes. There was very little .\that seemed to have escaped their at- : Mention. £.; The flag was being shown. It was £-•• good to be British, to know that one ;;-. went here ,and there without apology. .: The Egyptians were now more British "than the British, and at Ismailia they r pointed to the destroyer anchored ? there as "One of our ships." "c At Ismailia, too, we encountered the '-•"• army. Now, the army had been some*vwhat dubious wherever we met it. • From their point of view, too much • "■was being done for one Service and ••'• not enough notice being taken of the .- other. i There had been tales of reinforcer merits in Libya, and those reinforce- .-' mehts had to be considered, they said r- True, they remembered that there were tribes in that part of the world who might not'be altogether friendly to their neighbours; tribes defeated but not pacified, who would welcome another chance. But they looked more closely at the map, to the frontiers. They thought of Egypt. ' "You know," said an old hand. "We wondered what those people at home were thinking about, and sometimes T Sye! wondered if they were thinking at v .all. Then things began to happen." l;r "What things?". , ; "Just the things you'd like to happen - :-i-men coming, aeroplanes coming. And plans, plans by the score, that '' might mean any one of us being sent "■to any of three places. But. we're 'expected to be. ready for any one of V the plans being put -in action. „, ; "Take me, for instance; tomorrow _;Tm going to lqok at a country I may have to work in. I've been to a couple of others already. There may be more to follow. You can take it from me, they're not asleep at home." .*.■::■• :. ;._^ : sffisTsASpK.i-'. \« :-_ . :Nor abroad,'.^^yiously,:^Ati-Po^t; Said again the lame"""cflds'. process -ot troopships in the/Canal, ahd the same demonstrations of enthusiasts on the banks, the cars gaily; decorated;: cheerleaders hoarse .with'excitement, boyish soldiers doing their best to show how glad they.were.about ■'it ? .all, : .and megaphones. '• .'.•■::!■.'/:■'',■.'.'.' .."',''■ Gay people; But not so .gay;'as the natives, who were.- ;. ; br.igh't/with new and fuller understaniUiigj, of .The newspapers were lexultj.ng^i&^-JBritish Fair Play." We and Colonels on^our?Jwa3r;-oJit:;.^ere now never .less than-Excellencies.:;^ ;. '-' The "big show" .was^at Alexandria; and the big.'show came-as^a shock. The. Navy had taken over.ydefirtitely. There was a boom-across the-harbour, .with tugs standing by. .^ There,, were half a hundred ships :in "the■harbour; big fellows headed by; H.M.S^ißesolution, Revenge',: and ! and • enough smaller craift (that were not'too; small)' toipro.videfa.imagnifiqerit review. ' 1;L Three : adrrfjrals^ew itheir.. flags in that harbour,'and the White Ensign went down at sunset, to be flown again a moment later. The Navy called, and said, "We can take care of whatever situation may arise." Doubtless they could. The city was theirs. The streets'were lively with the white uniforms of men with smiling faces. ... :: ..., : ,. ;■■,■.:- •■..-. i|.| It isl a long .time since Britain^ showed her strength" abroad, but this time she has spoken with a voice that at least Egypt and the people in the Mediterranean can understand. That show of preparedness is causing pleasant, reasonable thoughts throughout the- inland sea. . Britain, they say, is once more to be reckoned with, once more to be relied on. THE COST. Of. course, the nearer we get to home, ,the more talk there is of the taxpayer,; and the cost of all this. They who pay may wpnder why it should always be Britain whose job it is to act as policeman. The answer is a little matter of comparison. '■• .Insurance at two and a half per cent, is cheap, when that insurance may be not only .endowment, but iife as well. The Navy out. there is a quencher, and a very efficient quencher. Malta had completed its about turn. H.M.S. Queen Elizabeth had arrived and gone, and she had been cheered, i Some Italian subjects were hastening to acquire British status. There was' a noticeable change in tone. Less ex--1 citability was noticeable among the people, less grumbling; a tardy but genuine enough, satisfaction prevailed that at least the authorities had taken notice of the island. Nobody'said.'now, as they had said, that Malta';was;;.flnished. Instead they looked down.vfrdm the gardens, and saw the grey;ships iin the harbour, and out to sea- where, submarines were practising.?::-: ■{, ■'.■■::.'■ ■ There was much traffic in the harbour, ships were,unloading. Nice new aeroplanes, their metal bodies gleaming, were ibeiriji, towed from a cargo boat by frim. little ' R.A.F. craft. ' ' Outside again, once the boom was passed, the practice manoeuvres of his Majesty's ships put another ten miles' on to bur voyage; but what were ten miles? j ■;,-. ~.'■■ ■ ■ Destroyers, were a submarine.. >'A .seaplane "flew overhead scouting! ;;Destrqy.ers.,took their formation; ; Sprh'ething; dropped from the skies.1; | We. saw, a-little splash in the wat'erl | The;destroyers moved in, and "shortly! something- moved on the surface: ofi the (Water.,* One of.the destroyers ■ slewed hard. round : and a thin streak passed ThamlessiyiKyv her while the others I closed >iff*.again.: and—the submarine? broke;'surface. - : The jsubmarine was. a long,' snaky, naked ; craft;"1' but, though apparently she had been worsted in that practice she was comforting to look at, ;uncomfortable as?, she might be to operate. Practice,'that was all. Precautionary measures, and a feeling that, after all, Malta was not so useless. PESSIMISM RETURNS. That pessimism which we had expected, and did not find, turned up again after a, few hours' sailing. We found it in Tunisia, where the French were nervous, quiet, watchful, waiting to hear from Paris what opinions they should hold, what attitude to adopt. It may have been the percentages oi population that made them so reserved. Nothing of reserve characterised'the Italian jcolonists. They were more the Dictator than was Mussolini himself. They knew; They had.no questions to ask, only -opinions /to impart. The Italian servants of the tramways were voluble. • For them, the political ■ situation;,had- only, one solution; that the wojrlcj: should stand off,and let Italy bring'civilisation to Ethiopia and bread to Italy. Sf V: , ...,..;.;, ;■.■"...■ It; was asttsirftple as, rthat. England, they said,;;did not'-'understand. It was different .for her. She had picked out

from the map pieces here and there. She had all she wanted. Now she was simply interfering. "And France?" A gesture was sufficient for explanation. It was useless, we discovered, to suggest that not only had times changed but that this was an entirely different situation. Laws, diplomacy, the peace of the world, pacts and covenants, we were told, did not apply to this question. Even a formal declaration of war was nonsense.' "Why should we declare war?" they said. "It is unnecessary. This is not war, it is a work of humanity." "It is usual." "The strength of the Duce is that he is unusual. He is not bound by tradition." "Perhaps by signature?" "It is not a question of signatures. Italy, is cleaning the world of a sore. Ethiopia is uncivilised, the people are savages, their Emperor a bandit. They have no religion, no morals. They are not modern. Italy . . ." FAITH OF COLONISTS. The newspaper offices were besieged, although the latest bulletin had been posted ten hours earlier. It was an Italian crowd that thronged the pavement, watching for the little flags to be moved on the map. They were all Italian flags which marked positions. My waiter challenged me on the matter of British ships in the Mediterranean. "Why does England make preparations against us?" "Why do you think it is preparation against you?" "England is against us . . ." "Perhaps neither for nor against. The League of Nations " His exclamation is unprintable, not that it was profane; it was merely explosive. "The League of Nations," he replied*

at length, "is England. If England would be quiet the League would be | quiet. Do those ships belong to. 3he League?" Obviously not. I waited for him to say more, and he said it, thoughtfully.----"No, I am for Mussolini. If he wins or if he loses, I am for Mussolini. He does things. They may be right or they, may be wrong. But there are things done." ' ' My waiter was no isolated case. His was no minority viewpoint. It is the viewpoint of the Italian colonists, and it will remain their viewpoint until crcumstances compel . the adoption of another. There was only one port remaining to be visited: that pessimistic, nervy place at the entrance to the Straits. AIR CONTROL. Gibraltar, too, had come out into the sunshine. H.M.S. Leander and two sister ships lay,, along the breakwater. H.M.S. Hood and other big ships ;with masts like hers were not far away.'The artillery was ready,'but .one wondered whence came all' the airmen. There were niore to come. As the Navy had taken'over Alexandria and was providing! defence «gainst anything that might -come, even from the air, so the air seemed to control Gibraltar,1 even againstVthe sea. The Rock seemed safe again, the air was s .breathable." 'There had been black-outs, byi^ayVof practice; but all nervousness had gone. Those troops of another Power'were no longer near. No,-neither Malta nor Gibraltar was .to "be relegated?to':the useless lumberroom of-.an. effete* Empire. -Not now. Things could;*'still;be done for them, with them, by them. They were useful places, j ; ■'■.. . ' }- There; are-values'today in the"" Mediterranean that were not* there a month or, two^ago..;-.lt ,1 is. good forrus to realise that change has come about; to know-that, whatever may be prevented.'.or whatever; may" have to be faced, . one thing, is born ■, ag'ahv and that is 3 confidence. Perhaps more than confi-dence,—self-confidence.' . . ' s ' These, precautionary measures have s put a new life around the world." They s' are!precautionary,, they are preventive, i They'are riot war .measures,.';they'are peace measures such as can be underi- 'stood. ; There is something^ in that-for i us who pay, or may have to pay, taxes i- to., remember. ■. '.... ,-