FURTHER SPELL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23859, 9 January 1941, Page 7

FURTHER SPELL

NO NIGHT ATTACKS MANY DAY RAIDERS LONDON AND PROVINCES By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received January 8, !».:{<) p.m.) LONDON, .Tan. 8 For the second night in succession there was no enemy air activity over Britain last night. The weather was exceedingly severe. Enemy machines were engaged by British lighters over south-east England early last evening. A heavy barrage was put up by anti-aircraft guns in the Thames Estuary and machine gun lire was heard above the clouds. Frieinv daylight activity over Britain yesterday was greater than for several months. London had the longest day alert since October 25. Hit-and-Run Raids Guns on the Thames Kstuarv and also from the heart of the capita] spoke .sporadically as single enemy aeroplanes attempted hit-and-run raids under cover of low-lying clouds. Incendiary bombs were quickly extinguished. One bomb directly hit a church steeple in London in the afternoon, demolishing portion of the church. Several people were killed. Debris fell on a tram, injuring several people. The blast damaged near by houses arid shops. A motor showroom and a bank, under which people were trapped, were also hit. The raiders also attacked the provinces. A number of bombs fell in a Midlands town in the afternoon, demolishing a number of houses and causing casualties, some fatal. Several Fatalities Four people were killed and four seriously injured when a. stick of high explosive bombs fell in a Home Counties district. One bomb fell on a doctor's house, killing the doctor and his wife, his daughter and a boy visitor. The doctor's other two children and another visitor were severely injured. A burst of machine-gun fire, lasting over three minutes, sent schoolchildren and shoppers scurrying to shelter in an Fast Anglian town. Another raider sprayed roof-tops in a south-ea.st inland town. A. third raider machine-gunned a south-east coast town and then dropped bombs. The enemy was also reported over Liverpool in the afternoon and a West Midlands town in the evening. BROADCASTING HOUSE BOMBING HEARD ON AIR LONDON, Jan. 7 British listeners heard the explosion of one of the bombs which struck Broadcasting House when it was severely damaged recently. The announcer had begun a sentence with: "The talk to-night will ," when a smothered sound was heard. The announcer paused for a moment and a voice was.heard saying: "it's all right." Then the announcer continued according to the programme. Studios in Broadcasting House numbering at least-20 are still out of action. Programmes, including world-wide broadcasts in 30 languages, have been continued without interruption from ternporary promises. The casualties include the director of programmes, Mr. B. E. Nicholls, who was seriously injured. PUBLISHERS SUFFER 6,000,000 BOOKS DESTROYED LONDON, Jan. 7 Six million books were destroyed in and around Paternoster Row in the incendiary bombing raid on December 29. Thirty-seven publishers' premises were damaged or burned out and many contracts, copyrights and royalty statements destroyed, but the loss of manuscripts was not serious. SHELTER POPULATION 24 PER CENT OF LONDONERS British Wireless LONDON, Jan. 7 A census taken in December showed that 5 per cent of the population of the London region occupied public shelters, 19 per cent occupied domestic and communal shelters, and the rest were living in their own homes. According to Sir Wilson Jameson, chief medical officer for the Ministry of Health in the metropolitan area, there has been no outbreak of epidemic or infectious diseases in the deep and crowded shelters. "I believe the dispersal of the child population to the country has had a great deal to do with the low incidence of infectious diseases in Britain in .1910," he said. Figures up to December 14 compared with those for 1939 showed a decrease in scarlet fever and diphtheria, a slight increase in pneumonia, and a heavy increase in cerehro-spinal fever. LOWER WAR RISK RATES LONDON, Jan. S Underwriters in London announce u 5(1 per cent reduction in the war risk insurance rates for shipping on the west coast of India.