AERIAL ATTACKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23351, 17 November 1937, Page 11

AERIAL ATTACKS

TERRORS OF MODERN WARFARE PRECAUTIONS AGAINST RAIDS PROPOSALS IN BRITISH BILL (United Press Association! (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) LONDON, Nov. 15. (Received Nov. 16. at 7 p.m.t Speaking in the House of Commons on the Air Precaution Bill. Sir Samuel Hoare said that in the four vears of the Great War 300 tons of bombs were dropped in Britain. To-dav as many would be droooed in a dav. and the scale of the attack maintained for manv days The oosition to-dav was so formidable that some oeoole said it was no use to attempt defensive measures and that air attacks will always break through There was nothing we could do v/ith any effect He did not take that view Time after time the British Empire had been faced with great dangers, but she never sat still, despondent and despairing. She always attempted to meet dangers and had always, up to the present, overcome them There were people in 1917 who believed that the submarine campaign would bring the British Empire to an end, but British courage and common sense faced the problem, .and the submarine was no longer a danger to the security of the Empire. Now we must make aeroplanes as dangerless to the Empire as submarines.

Dealing with high-explosive air bombs, Sir Samuel Hoare said no Government was able to protect buildings from a direct hit from them, short of overwhelming expense. It had been calculated that if they attempted such protection a low estimate of the cost would be £1,500,000,000. Even then it might be ineffective. The authorities must attempt protection against blast and splinters. Accordingly, local authorities would provide, public shelters for those caught in the streets and for those unable to provide makeshift shelters under their own rooms. It was proposed to give individual householders detailed advice on how to improvise a refuge room against blast and splinters of Bombs. This could be done much more inexpensively than was supposed. Dealing with incendiary bombs, Sir Samuel said enough attention had not been given to them. A medium-sized bomber could start 150 separate fires from small incendiary bombs. It was essential that some means be evolved to extinguish them as soon as they started. He intended to provide householders with advice on how to deal with one of these bombs when dropped. "We will be making a series of very interesting experiments with a view to providing householders, at very small expense, with a cheap hand pump, shovel and box of sand." There was some Opposition laughter, but Sir Samuel Hoare continued: "Members may laugh, but experts believe that even simple apparatus of this kind, if used quickly, would be efficacious in preventing fires from spreading and a conflagration arising in great centres of population like the County of London." The Air Raids Precautions Department had been experimenting with new types of fire engines with the object of obtaining greater mobility than had been possible in the past. The only way to deal with a large number of fires would be to have such mobility in the machines that they would be constantly patrolling the streets. Three types had been considered, including a small and very mobile machine, rather of the trailer car type, carrying not only the means for fire extinction but also an emergency supply of water. The Government proposed to supply these for local authorities in all cases. Dr Haden Guest said that in congested areas thousands of people would pour into the streets for shelter, exposing themselves to slaughter before reaching shelters. People around the docks would be exposed to bombing on a wholesale scale. They should be evacuated.

The Rev. C. Stephen (Ind. Lab.) said evacuation was largely impossible. . Millions of people in the East End could not take buses to South Wales.

Mr Noel Baker (Lab.) described the Government's proposal to spend £32,000,000 over four years as a fantastic comparison with Germany's reported expenditure of £400,000,000. " We are going to lay ourselves open to grave danger of attack by an enemy who will be able to strike us a mortal blow, while he will have a much better chance of remaining immune."

Mr H. J. Wedderburn (Con.) said 20,000,000 gas masks were ready for distribution. They already possessed 650 new fire appliances, which would be enormously increased when the local authorities sent in their schemes. Handbooks for householders would soon be ready for distribution.

The debate was adjourned until to-morrow.