WAR NEWS IN BRIEF

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 June 1943, Page 5

WAR NEWS IN BRIEF

BEVERIDGE PLAN

LONDON, June 10. Sir William Jowitt, Minister without portfolio, has disclosed that he is the head of a small staff of specially appointed officers engaged in co-ord-inating the efforts of Government departments working out the Beveridge proposals. He said that nothing could be further from the truth than the impression that the Government did not mean business about the Beveridge report. ‘•After the debate a great deal cn hard, constructive work was done, and it is still going on," he added. “It would be a capital error with proposals of this magnitude, affecting so many, to come out with a premature, half-baked scheme.” CANADIAN NAVY OTTAWA, June 11. The Navy Minister, Mr Macdonald, in the House of Commons, said that at the moment Canada regarded the Battle of the Atlantic as its great struggle, and built ships accordingly. He said: “What we need at present are ships wherewith to fight the submarines, not submarines themselves.” The Canadian fleet after the war should include cruisers in addition to destroyers and submarines. Canada’s naval policy in the Pacific is not to rely on America. Canada had some ships which co-operated in the Aleutian operations, but her main strength was undoubtedly in the Atlantic. GERMAN TANKS LONDON, June 11. The Berlin radio admitted that the Germans began tank production in the year 1927. Production was at that time prohibited under the Versailles Treaty. Doctor Roland, Chief of the German Tank Production Committee, revealed that many of the first German tanks were then fitted with from eight to ten wheels, because caterpillars were forbidden under th? Treaty. Police cars in 1929 were armour-plated for experiments.