EFFECTS OF WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23486, 25 October 1939, Page 17

EFFECTS OF WAR

SPIRIT OF LONDONERS BLACK-OUT DIFFICULTIES NIGHT LIFE IMPOSSIBLE "Here in New Zealand you have no idea how prepared England was at the outbreak of the war, or what such preparation is. like," said Mrs. F. H. Gifford, who, with her husband and daughter, Miss Joan Gifford, has returned from a six months' holiday aboard. "London was ghastly during tho first fortnight of tho war, but it was wonderful how people were bearing up under tho strain. Sandbags were to bo seen everywhere. "Night life was impossible, as it was dangerous to go out when the city was in complete darkness, and there were several accidents," continued Mrs. Gifford. "One could not show any light at all, and if a light should show in a crack down the side of a blind, some | person with authority would come up and protest. Even the torches had to be covered with blue paper. "The organisation was truly wonderful," Mrs. Gifford added. "We lived in a large block of flats, and immediately the air-raid warning was sounded, wardens would go through all the corridors and knock at the doors of the (hits to warn the people." Mrs. Gifford said that she and her family had intended to spend a longer holiday abroad, but had cut their trip short. They were told to have their bags ready packed, and to wait until they were called. They had trouble in obtaining a passage at first, but in the end the boat was not full, as a large number of peoplo who had intended to visit New Zealand for tho centennial celebrations had cancelled their passages.

STREETS TRANSFORMED LINED WITH SANDBAGS A description of the transformation of London's fashionable shopping areas since the outbreak of the war was given yesterday by Mrs. Percy Upton and her daughter, Miss Peggy Upton. Streets, which were before lined with well-dressed shop windows, now presented a dreary front, they said, as I the windows were all outlined with sand bags. Squads of girls were to be seen everywhere, working furiously at filling these bags and placing them in position. An anxious time was spent for a while by Mrs. Upton, whose youngest daughter, Miss Cecil Upton, was absent in Russia during the tense days before war was declared. She landed in England on the first night of the war, having sailed in a Norwegian ship, and found London under a blackout. During the voyage a- German aeroplane had circled low over the ship, and had eventually flown awav after ascertaining its nationality. Miss Upton has returned to Oxford to complete her studies.