DEFENCE OF BRITAIN

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 February 1939, Page 7

DEFENCE OF BRITAIN

REGIONAL ZONES SCHEME

NOTABLE ORGANISATION

[BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.]

RUGBY, February 3

Further development of the plans for civil defence measures, was revealed in an announcement by Sir J. Anderson, that Britain is to be divided, immediately, into twelve zones for civilian defence. Each region, in war, will be in charge of a Regional Commissioner, appointed in peacetime, and assisted by a Deputy Commissioner and war staff, also designated in peacetime.

Besides A.R.P. Regional officers, the staff will include representatives of all Government departments concerned in civil defence, thus linking the regional organisation with the Government’s existing machinery. The Regional Commissioner will, in peacetime, be supplied with full delails of the war plans of all the Government Departments concerned in civil defence, and will hold frequent meetings with the officials who would act with him in time of war. He will not be concerned with the administration of the A.R.P. scheme in peacetime.

The degree of control exercised by a Regional Commissioner in wartime, on his own responsibility, will vary according to the extent to which communications may have been affected. A region would, in case of need, work as a self-contained unit. Greater London will form one of ten regions, into which England will be divided, Wales will be the eleventh, and Scotland, subdivided into five areas, will constitute the twelfth. The scheme is directed primarily toward dealing with a situation which might arise, if any area, in war, were so to suffer from bombardment, as to be temporarily cut off from the rest of the community, and forced to organise its life as a separate unit until communications were restored. There would be in each of the twelve regions, an established government, equipped with adequate administrative staff and essential authority, to decree and carry out measures for civil defence.

RE-ARMAMENT PROGRESS

RUGBY, February 2,

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain, from a panel of industrialists set up to advise on the industrial aspects of rearmament, which Mr. Chamberlain read to the Flouse of Commons, a number of important statements are made on the progress of rearmament.

The panel declares that the service departments supported by the Treasury are rapidly accomplishing a very difficult task of great complexity with efficiency and foresight, even to the extent in some cases of establishing new’ industries in the country. It feels the magnitude of the effort being made is not sufficiently realised by the country as a whole. Discussing deficiencies which were found to exist in the defence equipment of the nation at the time of the crisis in September, the panel says that on figures submitted to it it feels most of these gaps have been filled or are being filled as rapidly as possible. The panel is satisfied that the wholehearted co-operation of industry in the rearmament programme has been forthcoming and cites as an example the close co-operation between the Air Ministry and the aircraft industry, as a result of which there had been so marked an increase in the rate of production of aircraft.