WAR EFFORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23479, 17 October 1939, Page 8

WAR EFFORT

HELP BY BRITAIN FRANCE SATISFIED (REPLY TO NAZI CLAIM CRITICISM IN PRESS By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright British Wireless LONDON, Oct. 15 Much is being made in German news agency reports of passages appearing hero and thcro in French newspapers which givo an impression of voicing disappointment or dissatisfaction with the character or scale of British military assistance. Tho French press, like tho British, but unlike tho German, is free, and British ?,and French newspapers expressing varied and independent views contain opinion and comment well informed and less well informed, and conbidercd and less well considered. Extracts from tho French newspapers chosen by tho Nazi propagandists could well be matched in substance and surpassed in vigour by cominont in certain British newspapers, but it would not servo tho purpose of tho Germans to reproduce it.. Nor, incidentally, in tho caso of either tho French or tho British press does such comment reflect rcspon-, 6iblo or generally prevalent opinion. Roles Cannot be Identical It is understood by the public hero find in France, as it has long been well understood between tho two Governments, that.tho roles of the two countries in war, determined as they must be by historical, geographical and economic factors, cannot bo identical. Tho form and extent of tho British military' intervention on tho Continent has • been clearly expounded in the House of Commons speeches of tho Secretary for War, Mr. Hore-Belisha, on the Army Estimates and in other pronouncements, which have been tho subject at the time of approving notice in both countries. In Britain the Military Servico Act has mado all fit males between 18 and 41 liable to be called up, and, although at present ouly tho 20 and 21 ago groups aro being registered for immediate training to supplement tho number already under arms, approximating 1,000,000 men, volunteers up to tho military ago limit aro being enrolled simultaneously. 50,000 Volunteers Accepted Mr.,; Hore-Belisha revealed last week that since tho outbreak of tho war 60,000' volunteers had been accepted. The British and French authorities aro assured of tho endorsement of tho best-informed opinion in bepth countries if,, in a war not of their seeking, they practise what "Scrutator," in tho Sunday Times, to-day • calls "a wiso economy of man-power," and this not only in tho field and in such operations as those of tho French in tho Saar, to which this writer was referring, but on the economic and industrial front as well. • 1 In , tho latter sense wise economy means a well-thought-out and planned and controlled disposition of tho available resources of man-power. . Avoiding Errors of Past As' Mr. Hore-Belisha said last Wednesday, referring to the haphazard recruiting and drafting of skilled men out of industry into the army in the last'' war, "experience taught us to avoid,many of the errors of tho last occasion." i To the mentality which ? takes little account of the deeper political and strategic considerations, and is aptly expressed in the catch-phrase, "This is a funny war," the transport of 158,000 men to France, with the vast equipment of a .modern army, and the installation of a base and lines of communication, may not be an achievement of a sufficiently spectacular character to givo satisfaction, but a truer estimate ' of their, -significance is the statement of a French military expert that it ranges with the greatest military feats and is the "first victory for tho Allies'in the war.". Enlightening the Germans A cablegram' from Paris cites M. Henri' Bidou, military expert of the paper L'lntransigeant, as stating that war methods must conform with tho political ends of tho war. Replying to thoso who are saying this is a funny war, ho writes: "It is a question of dissociating" the German peoplo from the Government which, through its iniquities, its tricks and its abuso of power, has become a plague for the whole of Europe. The first thing is to enlighten the German peoplo. The action of J3ritish airmen in scattering millions of tracts over Germany i 3 an excellent war operation."

EMPLOYMENT' SECURITY

AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS MELBOURNE. Oct. 16 The early introduction by the Federal Government of regulations to safeguard tho employment of men who volunteer for service in tho Australian fighting servicra is expected. The Primo Minister, Mr. li. G. Menzies, says the Government has not decided yet whother tho Australian regulations will follow thoso of New Zealand.

RECOGNISED ON FILM

TWO PRISONERS OF WAR LONDON, Oct. 13 A nowsreel revealed tho fate of two members of tho British' Air Force. li\ a York cinema theatre a non-commis-sioned officer of their squadron saw a film of a German prison camp and thought he recognised the men. Ho took tho wife of one and the fiancee of the other to watch a screening, and the women were convinced that,' flioy could see Squadron-Loader S. S. Murray and Pilot-Officer Thompson. An enlargement of one scene confirmed tho identification.