AIR PRECAUTIONS BILL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 17 November 1937, Page 11

AIR PRECAUTIONS BILL

ANTI-INCENDIARY METHODS SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS [United Press Association-By Electrio Telegraph— Copy rich tl LONDON, 15th November. The Home Secretary, Sir Samuel Hoare, continued his speech in moving the second reading in the House of Commons of the Government’s Air Raid Precautions Bill. Dealing with incendiary bombs, he said enough attention had not been given to the danger from that source. A medium-sized bomber could start 150 separate fires with small incendiary bombs. It was essenl'O that some means should be evolved for extinguishing them as soon as they started. It was intended to provide house-holders with advice how to deal with one of these bombs when it was dropped. "We have been making a series of very interesting experiments,” he said, “with a view to providing householders at a very small expense, with a cheap hand pump, a shovel, and a box of sand.” There was some Opposition laughter at this, but Sir Samuel continued: “Members may laugh, but experts believe even a simple apparatus of this kind, if used quickly, will be efficacious in preventing fires spreading and conflagration arising in the great centres of population like the County of London.” The Air Raids Precautions Department had been experimenting with new types of fire-engines with the object of obtaining greater mability than had been possible in the past. The only way to deal with a large number of fires was to have such mobility that machines would be constantly patrolling the streets. Three types had been considered, including a very small mobile machine rather like the trailer-car type, carrying not only means of fire extinction, but an emergency supply of water. The Government proposed to su„oply these for local authorities in all cases. Dr. Haden Guest (Labour) said that in congested areas thousands of people would pour into the streets seeking shelter, exposing themselves to slaughter before reaching the shelters. People around the docks would be exposed to bombing on a wholesale scale. They should be evacuated. The Rev. C. Stephen (Independent, Liberal Party) said that evacuation would be largely impossible. The millions of people in the East End could not take buses for South Wales.