AIR-RAID

Evening Post, Volume CCXV, Issue 13, 17 January 1938, Page 4

AIR-RAID

9- WHAT BRITAIN IS DOING

■. Britain is' forearmed against .'air .warfare. . This was 'the ■gistrof a striking. speech by, Viscount Swinton in the House of Lords 'recently (said the "Daily,Telegraph and Morning Post"). The Air Minister revealed details of Britain's preparedness which left all sections of opinions satisfied. Only the minor points of the Air Raid Precautions Bill,' brought from- the Lower i House for second reading, were subjected to criticism. For the rest, the Peers found that the Government had prepared, was preparing, and ought to' be encouraged. 1 It was the figures which Lord Swinton quoted that caused the greatest satisfaction to his hearers. He revealed that: Two hundred thousand volunteers had been trained in anti-gas measures. Sixteen specially trained doctors had given- special courses to about 10,000 doctors and 10,QQ0 nurses. Twenty million gas masks had been produced up to December 1, Five central store depots" had been completed, and two would be completed in December; a total of twelve would, soon be in existence. The Minister discounted panic and soothed anxiety. He suggested to the Opposition in advance that the production of the Bill in December, 1937, was no proof that much had not been, achieved already. A school for instructors had been established early in 1936, and was passing instructors through at the rate of 120' per month. Another school was shortly to be set up at York. The "very formidable figure" of 200,000 trained volunteers was arrived at without including members of the regular police forces and large numbers of special constabulary who had also had their training. Lord Swinton's position was assaulted from strategic points in the ensuing debate. But it was only Lord Arnold and Viscount Trenchard who had much ammunition. Lord Arnold laughed at Lord Swinton's mention of "adequate precautions" in such a city as London, peopled with the equivalent of one and ■ a half times the population of Australia. He saw, it seemed, a hideous hopelessness, in a world which could make the need for such measures, and declined to agree that they could ever be effective. Lord Trenchard found the Bill's proposals gratifying, and useful, accepted the theory of the knock-out blow, but did not know.that we were not spending too much time and energy on precautions against gas. He saw the great- i est danger in high explosive. "If we can hold out for the first ten weeks we win." 'added Lord Trenchard. Lord Strabolgi, for the Opposition, carped a little; but he assured the Government that his party attacked the measure chiefly for its belatedness. He described his own experiments in gas-proofing, condemned London's transport facilities as likely to collapse completely in the event of war, and asked why there were not observers in Spain and China learning "wonderful lessons."

The Earl of Munsler replied for the Government, and the Bill was read a second time without a division.