WORLD ORDER AND DECENCY

Evening Star, Issue 23498, 12 February 1940, Page 7

WORLD ORDER AND DECENCY

BRITAIN'S WAR AIMS NATION UNITED AND RESOLUTE AIR MINISTER’S WIDE SURVEY (Britisti Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 10. Speaking at Bristol on the course of the war, the Secretary for Air (Sir Kingsley Wood) said: ‘“Never in any great conflict in our history has this country been so united and so resolute. Wo are fighting for all those principles of international order and decency without which the world would be intolerable Wo are fighting for real peace, not a patched-up pact which would leave Europe once again subject to assault and violation.” ALTERNATIVE FOR NEUTRALS. Referring to the inconvenience and sometimes even hardships which the exercise of Britain’s sea power and her use of the economic weapon necessarily entailed for neutrals, Sir Kingsley said that Britain sincerely regretted it, and was doing her best to reduce it to a minimum. “ But we feel,” he said, “ that wo are justified in asking those who are affected to remember that we are not only fighting for our existence as a nation, but also for the existence of all those principles without which life would not be worth living.” He urged neutrals to ponder on the alternative to these inconveniences—“ the whole of Europe suffering unspeakable horrors, which even now are being perpetrated on the unhappy Polish people.” UNEASY PARTNERSHIP. This led the Air Minister to a statement that “ there is no possible doubt that the conditions in German-occupied Poland are simply abominablo. They are far worse than in Russian-occupied Poland. “ The German methods in occupied Poland since September have passed through two phases. They tried first to terrorise the population by shooting individuals picked at random from the towns. In Konin, for instance, they decided to shoot 35 people, and they collected 34 victims, and then, finding that they were short of one, went into a chemist’s shop and seized the first person they found. Then they realised that these methods would not avail them and would lead nowhere, and they decided to decimate the natural leaders of the national movement. The Polish Government estimates the number already shot gt 15,000.” Referring to the understanding between Germany and Russia, Sir Kingsley said that though the scale was unknown here it was certain that the understanding would be broken as soon as it suited Germany, and that “ not even von Ribbentrop would suggest that Germany has drawn any great advantage, either political or material, from this uneasy partnership. The Air Minister then proceeded to contrast the firmness and completeness of Britain’s alliance with France. NAZI GUNMEN. Turning to the actual theatre of war, Sir Kingsley said: “Between the Thames and North-east Scotland our merchant ships in large numbers move up and down on their peaceful business each day The German airman emulates his naval confederate in ruthless and murderous attacks on them. He does not discriminate between British or neutral ships. He obviously prefers those vessels which cannot defend themselves.” Sir Kingsley particularly deplored the enemy’s machine-gunning and bombing of helpless fishermen, recalling the fact that only a few years ago the nations of Europe under the Nyon arrangements condemned all attacks without warning on merchantmen as acts of piracy He said: “ It is astonishing that the German High Command see s to condone these atrocities. It authorises attacks on lightships and the shelling of the men who man them and whose sole purpose and lives are dedicated to the greater safety of all those who sail the seas.” The Air Minister revealed that orders to the value of some £6,000,000, covering the production of the latest type of aircraft, have been given to a greatlyextended group organisation which was established in Canada after the mission to that country in 1938. The British output of aircraft had been doubled in a year. CONSTANT VIGILANCE, Sir. Kingsley Wood revealed that “ during the Arctic weather of January the aircraft of the coastal command flew close on 1,000,000 miles. The first half of January provided the most severe flying weather ever known. Yet throughout the bitter spell not a single day’s halt was called in the vital work of the coastal command. Not a single day passed without fighter patrols taking off to guard our shores.” In another passage in the speech, in which Sir Kingsley comprehensively reviewed the course of the war, he spoke of French and British co-operation in the air. “In staff matters,” he said, “ there is the closest contact. We have a comprehensive scheme of pooling information. Production problems we study systematically together, and secret equipment is exchanged and new developments shared. And as a practical £est of all this on more than one occasion reconnaissance aircraft approaching this country have been pursued and shot down by French fighters.” Referring to the results in actual combat in the air, the Minister said: “ It is not surprising—at any rate to us—that that part of our Air Force which has been engaged in pitched battles with the enemy has shot down many more enemy aircraft than we have lost.”-