PEOPLE OF SINGAPORE
LADY POPHAM'S TALE
(By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright.) (Rec. 2 p.m.) LONDON,, Feb. 27. "Singapore people simply refused to believe that the war would come there," said Lady BrookeFopham on her return to England with Air Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, former Com-mander-in-Chief in the Far East. "I went to Singapore as a newcomer ffom the London blitz and was struck immediately by the deadly inertia of the white population. "My husband tried to shake them up, but it .was hopeless. They were utterly dormant. Getting no help from home made it difficult. "A.R.P. work, was never taken seriously. I asked a certain lady to give me two hours' help daily. She replied: 'I'm awfully sorry, but I have entered for the tennis tournament, and A.R.P. would interfere with my tennis.' "People continued with their parties, bridge, and dancing until the very last. Any preparation which was made was due entirely to my husband. •'The Chinese were magnificent and did all they could to help, but , the Malays were inert and outside everything."
Sir Robert refused to make a statement,
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19420228.2.55.1
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 50, 28 February 1942, Page 8
Word Count
181PEOPLE OF SINGAPORE Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 50, 28 February 1942, Page 8
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in