OVERSEAS TOUR

Grey River Argus, 14 February 1940, Page 5

OVERSEAS TOUR

When War Broke Out BARRISTER’S IMPRESSIONS. Impressions of his tour overseas, which included the experience of being in London when war was declared, were related at the weekly luncheon of the Wellington Rotary Club by Mr H. E. Anderson, a Wellington barrister and a former pc.is:dent of the club. Viewed in retrospect, said Mr Anderson, he counted it a privilege to have been in London at the outbreak of war. Wherever he went on his travels, said Mr Anderson, he made a point of talking with all kinds of people. When he left New Zealand he did so with somewhat mixed feelings as to the proper vision of the pact between Britain and Poland, but throughout the six weeks he spent, in England he never on one occasion found any man who had reason to be dissatisfied with it. The view taken was that if Britain did not take a stand, the whole of the smaller countries of Europe would be mopped up, and eventually Nazism would turn its attention towards Franc and England. He found very much the same attitude on the Continent. RUSSO-GERMAN PACT. As an indication of the swiftness of the effect of international events in Europe, Mr Anderson described a brilliant scene he had seen one night in the dining and grill rooms of a big hotel at Lucerne, Switzerland, and the almost complete desertion of the rooms the following night; Between the first and second nights, he said, he had been on a visit to the Rhone Valley. After dinner on the second night when talking to the manager of the hotel he remarked upon contrast in the spectacle Of the two nights. The hotel manager explained that the Rus-sian-German Pact had been signed and his guests, all being internationals, had cleared out. That the manager added, meant a loss of 10,"00 francs to him straight away. Mr Anderson 'described the heavy demands on transport accommodation from France to England and the trip he made by plane across the Channel to England. The flight, ne said, took forty minutes longer than schedule. The explanation was that, although the plane arrived over Croydon on time, .she was compelled to circle around for 40 minutes before she could come down, because of the amount of traffic. Planes were landing at the rate of one every three minutes. AIR RAID ALARMS. Mr Anderson described his reactions to air raid alarms in London and praised the military and A.R. 10 . organisation. He said that he had also had the interesting experience of staying at Southampton at the time the first British troops together with military equipment, were being shipped to France. There had never been less than 15 transports at a new dock that had been built at one time. As some moved out, their places were filled with others. The transport of men and equipment was marivellously well handled. He had formled the opinion that if this was the

organisation of the British Army, we were in pretty good hands. As far as he had been able to judge the feeling of the people at Home towards the war was one of very great soberness. He had seen troops on the march at Southampton, but had he rd no cheering. The attitude of the English people seemed to be that they had a grim task ahead, that it had to be done, and that there was nothing to cheer about. They were living on the edge of a volcano, and the stress and strain that were the lot of the people in Britain was not realised by the majority of the people in the country.

Referring to the defence measures adopted in England, Mr Anderson dealt interestingly with the balloon barrages and made particular mention of radio pylons in groups of five which he had seen at intervals along the south and east coast of England. The suggestion had been made by some Englishmen with whom he had discussed the matter that these electric ray capable of stopping an aeroplane engine. Mr Anderson praised the industry of English people, particularly in relations to the cultivation of flower and vegetable gardens but said he was at a loss to understand why it was that there was such a close affinity between English people and dogs, which were taken everywhere and for which special provision was made.