DOMINION'S RISK

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24194, 9 February 1942, Page 6

DOMINION'S RISK

A MINISTER'S ESTIMATE "The coming of Japan into the war," said the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer, in the course of a national service broadcast last night, "has brought home more vividly to our realisation that it is probable that casualties will be suffered both by the armed forces and by civilians within this Dominion before the war ends. It is unlikely, of course, that we will experience an attack on a scale and of the magnitude experienced in other lands; but it will be nothing short of a miracle if this Dominion escapes without some attempt being made either to invade our cities or to bombard them from the air or from the sea."

Outlining the preparations that had been made for all eventualitieSj the Minister said that 21,000 additional beds could he made available in the Dominion to meet an emergency, and that would appear to he adequate for all purposes. In addition to this hospital emergency scheme, the- Emergency Precautions Service had worked out detailed plans for every centre to deal with casualties that might arise from bombardment. 'The Red Cross and the t3t. John Ambulance _ and the medical profession had co-ordinated their activities, and the arrangements that had been made were as near perfect as possible.