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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23780, 7 October 1940, Page 7

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GROUND DEFENCES PROBLEM OF INTERCEPTION WELL ON WAY TO SOLUTION By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received October 6. 8.15 p.m.) LONDON, Oct. 0 The Air Ministry spokesman stated that the problem of night interception of enemy raiders was well on the way to solution. Details cannot be released, but he confirmed the impression that the reduced effectiveness of German night bombing this week has been due more to greater practice by anti-aircraft units with the new predictor, and consequently increased accuracy, than to any such factor as the weather, the fear of which, judging by the demeanour of prisoners, finds no place in the German airman's make-up. The morale of the German Air Force shows no sign of breaking, although great losses have made enemy pilots inoro wary, particularly of the British eight-gun fighter. The Royal Air Force has found the Berlin anti-aircraft defences a tough nut to crack, the gunners being accurate, and their fire usually constant. The spokesman rated the Italian Air Force as "25 per cent good, 50 per cent mediocre and 25 per cent rubbish. The Italian machines are not as manoeuvrable as ours and are vastly inferior in armament."

BERLIN AND MOSCOW RAILWAY AGREEMENT DIRECT TRAFFIC ARRANGED SOVIET MARSHAL'S MESSAGE (Receivpd October (>, 7.15 p.m.) MOSCOW, Oct. 6 In announcing that a Russo-German agreement about railway communications was signed on . September 30, a communique says it provides for direct freight and passenger traffic between the two countries. Marshal Timoshenko, Commissar for Defence, said in a message to graduates of the Soviet Military Academy: "You are entering the ranks when the flames of a second imperialist war are enveloping West and East. The Soviet is outside the orbit of the war, but that does not mean we are safe from provocations threatening our borders. We must therefore be ready for any emergency."

NEW TRADE PACT RUMANIA AND GERMANY (Received October 6, 6.30 p.m.) BUCHAREST. Oct. 5 A new trade agreement which has been concluded between Germany and Rumania increases Germany's allotment of Rumanian petrol products but cuts down grain exports "owing to the fact that the cession of territory has decreased Rumanian crops."

POLISH PATRIOT M. PADEREWSKI LIBERATED MADRID, Oct. 4 M. Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous pianist and former President of Poland, has been freed from detention in Spain, which is said to have been due to a misunderstanding. He was passing through Spain on his way to the United States.