BRITISH EMPIRE RESPONDS

Southland Times, Issue 23922, 14 September 1939, Page 6

BRITISH EMPIRE RESPONDS

ENCOURAGEMENT TO UNITED KINGDOM

EMPLOYMENT OF STRENGTH OF COMMONWEALTH

(British Official Wireless)

(Received September 13, 6.30 p.m.)

RUGBY, September 12. The response from the peoples of the Empire to the challenge of Nazi aggression has been a source of profouna encouragement to the peoples of tne United Kingdom and continues to be the subject of newspaper comment. The Daily Telegraph says that it nas now been made clear to Germany that the whole strength of the British Empire will be employed against her in the war on freedom which she has declared. In a message from the. KingEmperor read to the Indian Legislative Council his Majesty declared his confidence in that loyalty of which India in the face of common danger has already given proof. She was loyal and geneious in 1914. Her unanimity and her determination are now complete, ine resources of one-fifth of the world, Field-Marshal Goering’s estimate, are now devoted irrevocably to the overthrow of Nazism. That should cause a searching of heart in German coun- “ Referring to Canada’s declaration of war on Germany, The Times remarks that in Canad.-. and throughout the Empire the challenge of Hitlerism is’ being met with a unanimity and determination even more impressive than 1914. Perhaps the most striking example comes from India. Assurances of support are pouring in to the Viceroy (the Marquess of Linlithgow) from Indian princes and Congress leaders. The Mahatma Gandhi has contributed a memorable saying: “I am not thinking just now of India’s deliverance. It Will come, but what will it be WOT th England and France fall. Offers of service are being received from members of all communities in so great a volume that the Government is finding difficulty in handling them. The record of the last war is assurance enough that Indian participation will be worthy of the great cause in which the Empire is now engaged. AGA KHAN’S OFFER The Aga Khan, in addition to appealing to his followers to give unstinted service to the cause for which Britain fights, has placed his own services, as in 1914, entirely at the Indian Government’s disposal. The Secretary of State for India (the Marquess of Letland) has expressed great appreciation of the offer. The Maharaja of Kapurthala, the ruling prince of one of the Punjab states, has offered the services of his second son, Major Maharaj Kumar Amarjit Singh, and. of his younger son, Maharaj Kumar Ajit Singh. The Secretary for India expressed warm appreciation. , The Governor of Trinidad reported that the Legislative Council of the colony at its first meeting since the war broke out made a declaration that it would do and suffer, all required of it. The senior unofficial member, of the council moved a resolution affirming this and renewing the pledges of loyalty to King George. He spoke warmly not only of the ties which Trinidad has with Britain, but also with France. Though the island had never been in possession of our ally, at the end of the eighteenth century there was a heavy influx of. French families driven from St. Domingo and elsewhere by the events of the French Revolution.

Monserret, the little dependency colonized by the Irish more than three centuries ago in the Leeward Islands, has added one more link to the uninterrupted chain of loyal messages from the Empire.

CAVALRY FIGHTING ARMOURED CARS

ROME, September 12. “Tlie motif of this war is horses against armoured cars,” writes an Italian eye witness of the battle near Warsaw between the German mechanized units and the Polish cavalry trapped in a square formed by the towns of Sfierniewice, Sockaczew, Gabin and Kutno.

“Four times the cavalry charged to be met by a withering cross machinegun fire,” he said. “More horses than men were slaughtered as the gunners were ordered to fire at the horses’ legs. The cavalrymen, being unsaddled and wearied, attempted to take refuge in bushes and swamps. The Germans finally allowed some to join the retreating infantrymen, thus aciding to the confusion.

“This morning the mechanized units moved in on the forces still trapped during the night and formed into small squares behind heaps of dead horses. The artillery resumed their fire at dawn and massed aeroplanes flew over aiming a rain of fire which made the ground boil. The cavalry again attempted to find an opening but the waves lost their form in bloody groups, reminding me of the famed ditch at Waterloo. “When the smoke and dust cleared it revealed the horrible sight of horses without men and men without horses.”

Expression of Loyalty The Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association will do everything possible during the war to assist the Government of New Zealand. The following motion was carried at the last meeting of the executive of the association: ‘On behalf of the returned soldiers of Southland the Invercargill Returned Soldiers’ Association expresses its loyalty to the King and Empire .and will do all in its power to help the Government of New Zealand in assisting the Mother Country to prosecute the war against aggression.”

Appeal to Depositors “Once again we have the opportunity of showing what the savings bank can do to assist the Government in time of war,” said Mr W. A. Ott, president of the Associated Savings Banks of New Zealand, at the seventy-fifth anniversary social of the Dimedin Bank on Wednesday night. “It is only by the assistance of individual depositors that this can be brought about. The savings banks and other financial institutions do not want anyone to come to them at this juncture to supply more than normal requirements. I hope that all depositors will bear this in mind, and thereby help the Government to face the existing crisis.”