SOLID SENTIMENT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20080, 28 October 1939, Page 4

SOLID SENTIMENT

BRITAIN GOES TO WAR ALL RESERVATIONS GONE CHAMBERLAIN'S POLICY SET FOR THE LONG PULL It cannot be too strongly emphasised that the people of Great Britain are overwhelmingly solid in support of the policy laid down by the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, and that they are determined to have the situation cleared up before they are prepared to talk peace. This is the opinion formed by Miss D. Bagnail during the last month which she spent in Britain.

Being on holiday in Britain when the war broke out, Miss Bagnall who returned to Gisborne on Thursday, remained in London under almost a fortnight after that event, and had ample opportunity of seeing how the people were settling down lor the “long pull” which they believe lies ahead.

Nothing that she saw during that period gave her any occasion to revise the opinion formed on the first day of Britain’s entry into the conflict—that the people were almost relieved to have the issue clearly set before them, and the impossibility of further postponement of the decision revealed. Woman’s Outburst at Abbey The tourist was attending Divine service in Westminster Abbey on the Sunday morning when London heard that Britain was at war with Germany. There she heard the first and only hysterical note of the crisis, when during a prayer the hush of the Abbey was broken by a woman’s voice, shrieking from one of the doorways that “The Cabinet is plunging us into chaos.” The startling interlude concluded quickly when.officials of the Abbey surrounded the woman and induced her to leave by the way she bad come; and later the officiating dignitary referred from the pulpit to the necessity for allowances being made for those whose nerves were unequal to the strain of these critical days.

For the rest, London betrayed no sign of hysteria, or anything but determination to have the war, get -it over, and settle down again to normal life such as had not been known for a year or two previously.

People became excited, of course, especially when the air raid warnings sounded throughout London and everyone was hustled by wardens into the shelters prepared at every point. Miss Bagnall encountered a flustered custodian on. her first visit to one of these shelters, after she had been ordered out of her car in one of the several false-alarm scares. He could not remember the signals, and appealed to those in his charge for information, which was forthcoming readily. Individual Reactions to Crisis On the other hand, she was struck by the cool demeanour of a woman auxiliary who., witli the air raid wardens, braved the perils of the open to do her bit while the sirens wailed .their warnings. These were the individual reactions to a situation none had encountered before —the prospect of imminent exposure to a rain of bombs of terrific destructive power. The mass reaction was exactly that which was regarded as typical of London crowds during the Great War.

People looked for a brighter side to all that was going on. They laughed uproariously at stories of airmen and members of other branches of the forces who did their jobs and managed to extract a joke from their grim labours. They criticised the civil service and the impromptu organisations which the war called into being, and wondered a little at some of the signs of crossness among officials. But beneath it all, they never for a moment wavered from the conviction that Germany, having started the war, must not be allowed to choose her own time for ending it.

All other impressions gained by Miss Bagnall were overshadowed by this feeling of certainty among those with whom she lived and came into contact. Deep and abiding faith in "he alliance with France was also one of the illuminating sentiments which found expression, together with deep sympathy for Poland and her people. The understanding with 'he French was reciprocal, and based i upon the two countries’ recognition that the Nazis could not be suffered to call the tune any longer.

French No Less Determined While travelling in France less than a fortnight before the outbreak of war, Miss Bagnall had occasion to observe among the people there the same fascinated approach to war as she had noted among the British. The French were saying that if September passed without war, then it might be possible lo avoid it for a lengthy period —but they doubted very much if Sepiember would pass without trouble. Their fears were realised.

A comforting reflection for Miss Bagnall was that in all the references to the possibility of war which she heard in France there was a steely will to resist the Nazis if they forced war on Europe, and to. beat them ■it all costs. The French believed that when the break came, it could not be patched up while the Nazis held control of Germany and the military force of that nation. “Don’t believe that oeople in London are going about despondent and heart-heavy,” said the returned traveller to a pressman. “The fact is that now war is to be faced, they are facing it with an uplift of the spirits which really makes London in warlime a .fascinating place.

"There are women I know who are getting a real inspiration from the work they are doing, and would not leave London for anything while they can he of service in any way. What they all want is to get the war over, for until it is over they can never po back to their old ways. The long threat of war hs>d disorganised their peacetime pursuits. The reality of war has organised them in a solid body behind the Prime Minister, and faced them up to tasks they know must be done."