HITLER SPEAKS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24538, 22 March 1943, Page 4

HITLER SPEAKS

long silence broken GERMANY'S 542,000 DEAD (Reed. 1.45 a.m.) LONDON, March -21 Hitler spoke in Berlin to-day—his first speech since the beginning of November. It: lasted little more than 10 minutes. One listener in London said Hitler's voice was scarcely ever raised. There was nothing resembling the familiar scream. He read from his script closely, and seemed glad to get it over. Hitler put the number of German killed in the war at 542,000. Ho claimed that the crisis in Russia had now been overcome and that the front had been stabilised. He said that the ban on all leave in the German army imposed some months ago would shortly be raised. The rest of his speech followed the lines of Goebbels' propaganda trying to raise the old Russian bogey. IMPROVED DEFENCES PROTECTION FOR LONDON (Reed. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, March 20 "In recent air raids on London all of us have been impressed by the immense volume of fire put up by our antiaircraft defences," said Mr. Duncan Sandys, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply, when speaking at Norwood to-day. He adfled:- — "We are now mass-producing maclianieal fuses for anti-aircraft shells which are twice as accurate as the old type of powder fuse we used before. As a result the shells can now be made to burst accurately at heights half as great again as could be done at the beginning of the war. "The result of lengthening the fuse has been that guns from much greater distances can now all bring a concentrated fire to hear upon enemy planes for a longer period and over a greater area. On an average anti-aircraft gunners to-day are shooting down eight enemy planes for the same number of rounds it took to shoot down one in the autumn of 1940." REPATRIATING SOLDIERS CANBERRA, March 20 After a 26-hour sitting the House of Representatives passed the Repatriation Bill. Soldiers' pensions are increased 20 per cent. Attempts to increase tlieni by .'53 l-.'i to 50 per cent were not successful. New important amendments to the bill include the establishment of a Parliamentary committee of six members to report on all repatriation problems. There are full pension benefits for tubercular soldiers of this and the last war, free medical and hospital treatment for totally and permanently incapacitated and blinded and tubercular soldiers, and increased benefits for orphaned children of members of the forces. MEN'S CLOTHING STYLES CANBERRA. March 20 The restrictions on men's clothing styles have been modified. Doublebreasted coats and false trouser cuffs are now permitted. The Minister of War Organisation for Industry, Mr. Dedman, said the modification of some clothing restrictions had been possible because the production of wool cloth had greatly improved and army clothing needs had dropped Tailors see in the Minister's announcement a belated admission that his "victory suit" has been n failure. ARCHBISHOP SPELLMAN (Reed. 7.20 p.m.) LONDON, March 20 The Roman ■ Catholic Archbishop of New York, Dr. Spcllman, arrived in Kngland to-day by air from the Allied front in French North Africa. It was stated at the United States Embassy that, he had come to the United Kingdom to visit chaplains assigned to the United States Army in this country. To-morrow he will celebrate Mass at Westminster Cathedral in memory of Cardinal Ilinslev. He will take part in Solemn Pontifical High Mass at the Cathedral on Tuesday morning.