NAVY’S MOBILISATION

Grey River Argus, 5 December 1938, Page 9

NAVY’S MOBILISATION

DEFECTS IN OTHER DIRECTIONS. The brightest spot in all Britain’s emergency efforts of the last week pl September was provided uy the smooth mobilisation of the naval reserves. Within three day s 29,000 men were absorbed into the Fleet. The organisation was in being and the men knew beforehand exactly what to uo. This success throws into clear xelmt the failures in other directions (says a correspondent of the 1 Spdney Morning Herald") ~ , The Territorials, who were called up for anti-aircraft service and the like were not lacking in spirit and smartness, but this is a force which has been starved for a long time in equipment and technique. Now thatat last it is to be made a counterpart of this Regular Army, there is the opportunity to omse supplying it with dummy or skeleton equipment, and to give the volunteers scope to fulfill the enthusiasm which has brought them to the defence of thfnr country. t 1 it was on the newest side pt I potential war, the passive or pre Iventive resistance to' air attack, that the greatest failures occurred, .lhe which had been in progress

for many months to organise a vast body of “air wardens,” for the distribution of gas masks and general direction of the people in an emergency . started with the usual rush and boom, steadied, flagger and faltered. : Under a dire threat, there was another rush of eager— citizens Io take up duties in which they ; were quite uninstructed'. The result was perhaps not so bad as might have been expected, but it was well that nothing happened to put in the test whatever degree of preparedness London wa s supposed to have achieved. . ■ It will be recalled that five or six months ago there was a somewhat triumphant announcement of the “balloon barrage,” which was to keep the enemy aeroplanes away. Little was heard of this during the actual week of crisis, but ten days later the strange balloon, creatures

came out* of their deiis and were flown, in strictly. limited numbers, from various points about London. It was officially recorded on. their first appearance last spring that' a type of balloon was being developed to lift 25,000 feet of steel cable, though the gear which was 1 then being used by the embryo corps could only manage half that height. The result of the day’s doings was not to inspire London with a sense of invulnerability. An air correspon\dcnt has written publicly: “Reports jthat balloons could . "attain heights exceeding 10.000 feet are, it appears, without foundation.. .The breaking away of some of the balloons is not reassuring. During the war, it’ was a comparatively rare" occurrence, and it is strongly suggested that much o:

the technique (evolved then has been lost. In the war, observation balloons and barrage balloons were sent up to greater heights than were attain ed on Saturday... .It is pertinent to inquire the experts engaged during the war in this department have been available, or whether they have been over-ruled by those who are not familiar with the technical problems.” It would appear that a great many rgiders could have got •through our admittedly lacking in equipment of the latest pattern, and in that light it was not satisfactory to read that, in the auxiliary fine services, despite the rush of volunteerj at the height of the crisis, London still wanted half the 30,000 necessary. Five thousand women drivers for ambulances were required and 800 (enrolled. These'are only two typical instances ’of. .many which could be recited. This matter ’of securing from the civilian population the services required for passive or preventive defences lias raised again, very naturally, the question of a National Register, which a section of public men has long urged on the Government, Its advocates separate, it from national services by pointing out that it merely lists (and does not enlist) the citizen for duties which he is capable of performing. There is, of course, the other school which says that, having gone so far as to insist upon his liability at ail, authority might as well have him trained (as far ns training may be required) and organised to undertake it' effectively when the signal is givteiV The air raid precautions have all been .formulated and organised on the basis of control by th e local authorities. The results have been extraordinarily patchy. There have been some “blue ribbon” boroughs in the number of volunteers and the comparative efficiency of the administration. ...but in the "'2B metropolitan municipalities these ar*» a fairly small proportion.

An . appeal Isnow being made for a single voice. of authority in this activity, instead . of some 40 voices (when ..the.*:? extra-metropolitan boroughs are added) u each speaking emnipotently "'within its own small sphere. It is pointed out also that th e Air Raids Precautions Act, 1937(, compels all-local authorities to carry out Government order's, but the power t 0 enforce the performance of the instru&tlons by tho. people does not seem’to have ■ been conferred upon these authorities, and the public does hoi appear to be under any legal obligation to obey the councils. ' A full A.R.P. ‘ organisation contemplates 1,000,000 men and women volunteers in ■ active control of duties. Their wartime status and authority would naturally increase over' those of peace and it might no* be- practicable to define them exactly until-the condition. of the hour wp' r known. . if ’ At present, however, even a defini-

tion of the basis of peace status is lacking. It is questioned whether there should not be increased rcgi mentation, uniformity and discipline, a placing of this non-combatanl army of a million volunteers under a chief and a General Staff, rathei than leaving it to the orders of a thousand independent commanders. It is quite possible that interest in these wide, important, and longrange matters may be overshadow ed, in the early days of the Parliamentary session, by a more intimate concern of the populace in connection with recent air raid fears. At an early stage ui the big, demiVd for picks, shovels, sandbags, sheet iron, timber and the like, a number of traders remembered the sound motto that “business is business." Prices of commodities leaped up by 300 to 700 per cent. The Labour 'Party Is determined to handle the complaints thoroughly, and has senl out. 300 letters to Labour leaders, 'groups and constituency parties throughout the country, “asking for local instances of A.R.P. profiteering, incompetence, delay and obstruction." This is a well-constructed dragnet, and seems to indicate that past perils and present politics can still be brought into a most useful relation by indefatigable party men.