PROLONGED ATTACK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23721, 30 July 1940, Page 7

PROLONGED ATTACK

DISTRICTS IN WALES ' BRITISH PEOPLE'S SPIRIT NO DESPONDENCY SHOWN (Received July 29, 7.25 p.m.) LONDON, July Itf) Many German aircraft last night took part in the longest raid Wales has had since the outbreak of war. It lasted for three and a-half hours. Eleven bombs fell in one district, slightly damaging a farm building, and others fell in open country. Four heavy bombs fell in another district. Searchlights and anti-aircraft guns were in action for a long time, and many British fighters went up to engage the enemy. Enemy bombers crossed the coasts last night and bombs fell in several districts. Some damage was caused to houses. The number of casualties, however, was small. , Public's Calm Patience, Localities in Britain which have had air raids are still quite a small part of the whole country, says a British official wireless message, but in the regions most frequently mentioned in announcements by the Ministry for Home Security there are a few places where during the last six weeks siren warnings, the drone of engines, gunfire and occasional bombs have become very familiar. Experience in these areas of the people's calmness, patience, irrepressible good humour and kindliness to each other leaves no doubt of how the rest of Britain will behave when its turn comes. There is no despondency. The inhabitants are showing great adaptability and ingenuity •in overcoming inconvenience and disturbances from the normal routine caused by regularly repeated warnings and raids. To avoid fatigue due to interrupted rest, many people have changed ing hours, while others sleep in shelters. "Picnic Spirit" in Shelters In many streets of small houses community shelters have been erected by the authorities, and where warnings are almost a nightly occurrence neighbourliness is joined by something of a picnic spirit. Wives take it in turn to provide hot drinks, men arrange games, and concerts are provided by young people, adjacent shelters sometimes exchanging the more successful "artists," whose prospective "appearance" is duly "billed" the previous day. Such is the resilience of spirit with which enemy , raids on Britain have been met so far. NEWS OF THE WAR RESTRICTIONS CRITICISED " FAVOURED OBSERVERS " LONDON, July 2G The Daily Telegraph in a leading; article criticises the "ringside" commentary on the air battle over the Dover Straits broadcast by Mr. Charles Gardner, of the 8.8.C., and the radio description of wartime Margate given by Mr. J. B. Priestley, the author. ' "Mr. Gardner," the article states, "was exempted from all the rigorous restrictions imposed on the press • and public. Mr. Priestley did not conceal the identity of the area lie visited. "How arc the restrictions still imposed on the press and public justifiable if they can be disregarded at will, and why are they disregarded for some favoured observers and not for all? # "If disclosure of the localities of raided towns and descriptions of tho damage jeopardise the national interest, it cannot matter whether the disclosures are made in newspapers or by radio. What official justification can bo offered for such capricious discrimination?" The Daily Mail accuses the of "favouritism and ineptitude" and demands that its present charter should be scrapped. Mr. Ward Price, in an article on the Board of Censors proposed by the Minister of Information, says: "Mr. Duff Cooper aims to, hamper, restrain and penalise the press and to tighten upon it the dead hand of British bureaucracy embodied in the Ministry of Information, which is manned almost entirely by professional civil servants. "The Ministry ought to be reconstructed. It is' still hampering .and" antagonising Dominion and American correspondents, particularly in delaying cablegrams until the 8.8.C. lias broadcast to the world the news they contain. The Ministry should be effective,: not merely obstructive.'