MORE INTENSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 139, 13 June 1940, Page 6

MORE INTENSE

SHADOW ON BRITAIN

ARMED GUARDS IN WHITEHALL

war work speeded up •"■■■■

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London

Representative.) LONDON, May 21. Government offices in Whitehall have been protected against possible "fifth column" sabotage or enemy parachute raiders. Soldiers with fixed bayonets are on guard at the Admiralty. The credentials of everyone entering . are doubly checked, by the armed guards outside and again on entering, Vehicles are allowed to approach the building only after closest inspection not only of the drivers' passes or other documents, but of the vehicle itself. Sandbagged observation and machine-gun posts, many already completed, command all approaches to Whitehall. 'Road and river approaches to London are also being ceaselessly patrolled by the police, and barbed-wire entanglements and other means of controlling road traffic are provided at key points. In country districts to which large business firms from London have evacuated, the staffs of these are being specially organised for civil defence service. WAR ON ANTI-WAR AGITATORS. Special branch officers from Scotland Yard, carrying out a new Home Office inspired plan to smash anti-war propaganda, scooped on all Fascist and Communist meetings in London during the weekend. The raids were, directed by Sir Philip Game, the Commissioner. The first raid, was made on a Fascist meeting in Walthamstow. At Edgware, a Communist who was alleged to have abused Mr. Winston Churchill in a speech which was received with boos s'-d cat-calls, was arrested. . Angry people, by singing "Roll Out the Barrel," "Land of Hope and Glory," and "There'll Always be an England," wrecked a British Union of Fascists by-election meeting at Middleton, Lancashire. The meeting was eventually abandoned after an ineffective attempt by Sir Oswald Mosley.to make himself heard. Scotland Yard also sent detectives in cars to every aircraft and munition factory and to all important1 war-time industrial centres,in the London area to "yet" lists of-.employees for suspected persons. All leave has been ca-.celled at the Yard to deal with these special inquiries and to have officers ready for any emergency. ' * f PRODUCTION OF AIRCRAFT. A vast amalgamation of aircraft interests has been announced by Lord Beaverbrook, the new Minister of Air Production, who stated that the Nuffield Aircraft Factory and the Vickers-Super Marine had been brought together under one management and control. It is' emphasised that the. thanks of the country are once again due to Lord Nuffield for the- public-spirited way in which he has agreed to this amalgamation, and thus placed his vast resources at the disposal of the Vickers- Armstrong group. Lord Beaverbrook also announced the appointment of Mr. T. C. L. Westbrook as Director of the Aircraft Civil Repair Organisation. Mr. Westbrook, I who is 40; was general manager of the I Vickers? Armstrong aircraft- works at Weybridge unit! a month ago, when he resigned, and the 5000 workers employed there threatened to strike in consequence. He said he was asked to resign en the ground that "he was not a team worker" after a dispute over a proposal to divorce from the control - of; the -works the Wellington | squadron servicing system. Mr. Westbrook had bc?:i with Vickers since he Began work at 16. He turned out the .first Spitfire and built the Schneider i Trophy winners of 1929 and 1931. At his office at Brooklands he put in an 80-to ■90-hour week; i Our most urgent need, says Lord [ Beaverbrook, is a great increase in the rate of output of planes. He starts his big drive by an appeal for more workers. • WORKERS GO INTO BATTLE. Every nerve and sinew of Britain's labour power is being put behind the Aitny,- Navy, and Air Force. Three new Ministers—Lord Beaver-? brook, Mr. Ernest Bevin (Minister of Labour), and Mr. Herbert Morrison (Minister of Supply)—have been working almost night and day to bring waytime production to a maximum. The closest co-operation is . being maintained between them. .The present skilled man-power will be divided into day and night shifts, and the vacancies caused will be filled by women and semi-skilled workers as is already being done in France. Instead of the 40,000,000 extra tons of coal needed to meet war demands both at home and elsewhere, at least j 60,000,000 tons a year are now wanted.! To secure this, every available man with mining experience is being! brought back for the pits. Miners who have been long out of employment are being given a six weeks' rehabilitation period, during which the owners are paying half their wages and the Ministry of Labour j the other half. This and other measures are being put into operation immediately to replace the thousands of men who have left the mining industry in the past few years. There has been an amazing response to Mr. Bevin's appeal for "Every shop steward to regard himself as a part of the Government jf the country." THEArRE BUSINESS FALLING. Six West End shows are closing down, and two first nights have been indefinitely postponed. Most of the other theatres are carrying on, "hoping for the best." Business has dropped by more than 50 per cent, since the invasion of Belgium and Holland. Two important productions postponed are A. J. Cronin's first play, "Jupiter Laughs." and the revival of "Dear Octopus," with Marie Tempest. Diana Morgan, young authoress of •'A House in the Square," said the decision to take off her play at the St. Martin's had been altered because business had picked up suddenly. ■ Leslie Henson's revue, "Up and Doing," is playing to full houses; an excellent company provides an evening of sparkling fun. "Jeannie," the Scottish comedy with that brilliant discovery, Barbara Mullen, fills Wyndham's and carries three matinees per week as well. - A start has been made on the remcval of iron posts and railings in ilyde Park for use as scrap in the arms industry. Dozens of the heavy posts on the footway between the Achilles statue and Hyde Park Corner and Stanhope Gate were dug up and carted away. There is no present intention to remove the tall iron railings which enclose the park, although many have been taken down from other public 'enclosures recently, ■__ I