THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23370, 9 December 1937, Page 11

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS BILL THIRD READING CARRIED LONDON, Dec. 7. Sir Samuel Hoare, in moving the third reading of the Air Raid Precautions Bill, which was carried without a division, said: “The Government had been driven to admit that no air raid precautions, however' great, would ensure complete immunity. Passive defence would not suffice. The best defence for London is a strong and vigorous Air Force capable of tying down the enemy’s force. What Britain has been forced to do runs counter to the ideals and tendertcies of civilised life. We are setting back the clock thousands of years in making women and children disperse over the country to the remotest districts and abandon the necessities and amenities of civilisation. We are arranging to dress up people in gasproof suits that will make them look like monsters from the dark ages. I assure the House that the Government will not lose the opportunity again to introduce sanity and remove the conditions that make the Bill inevitable.” Sir Samuel Hoare announced the reorganisation of the air raid precautions department of the Home Office by differentiating between staff administrative duties. He proposed to appoint Wing-commander Hodsell as chief of the precautions staff with the title of Inspectorgeneral. Mr C. W. G. Eady, one of the most competent organisers at Whitehall, would come to' the Home Office as Under-secretary for State and would devote his whole time to the administration of precautions. ATTACK ON AIR MINISTER (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, Dec. Y. In the House of Commons an attack was made from the Labour benches on the Minister for Air, Viscount Swinton, and it was urged that the holder of that office should be a member of the House of Commons, not of the House of Lords. The Prime Minister, in reply, said the Ministers of the Crown Bill, introduced last March, provided that put of 21 members of Cabinet not more than three need be members of the House of Lords. At present there were only five who were in that House. , ’

Dealing with the more personal attack on Viscount Swinton, Mr Chamberlain said: “ When it is realised with what speed and efficiency Viscount Swinton has built up our magnificent Air Force I think he will have the thanks and gratitude of the country.”