A.R.P.

Northern Advocate, 30 January 1939, Page 4

A.R.P.

Every magazine, almost, has some instruction or warning. War is in the air like a dark cloud of menace, and from the air it is expected to strike Its first dire and devastating blow. So books are tumbling oyer one another as they issue from the presses to tell the people what may happen, what to do for the defence of their families and homes, and, how -above everything, to keep their heads and

avoid the almost equal peril of panic. Of all the books I think the most sensible, , and certainly the most scientific .is A.R.P. (Air Raid Precautions) by J.B.S. Haldane, F.R.S. He says.in. the introduction: “So much has been written on the subject of airraid protection that many people will think that there, is no need for another book. I. do not agree. Most of the books and pamphlets on the subject seem to me to be of the nature of propaganda rather than truth. The government and its supporters try to persuade us that we have only to follow the official instructions to be safe. I believe that this is untrue. But a great many opponents of the Government state that such things as gas masks and gas-proof rooms are completely useless, that London could be wiped out in a single air raid, and so on. I believe this is equally false.” Experience in Spain The author’s father was President of the Institute of Minftrg Engineers, specially honoured for his work in devising protection against gases. In 1915 he was sent to France to devise protection for the British Army against German gas attacks. His son. the author, then a captain in an infantry battalion, was taken from the trenches to assist his father's work. Later he commanded a bombing school and was wounded in 1917 by an aerial bomb. He served some years, from 1924 on the Cabinet Committee on aerial defence. During the period 1936-38 he visited Spain, and observed a number of air raids. “As a result of this experience,” he says. “I largely* modified my former views as to the relative danger from incendiary and explosive bombs, and as to the possibilities of defence from them. As I believe that the lessons of the- Spanish War are quite literally matters of life and death to the British public, I have no option but to write this book. ’