THE COLONIST. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1917. AIR REPRISALS.

Colonist, Volume LVIII, Issue 14529, 5 October 1917, Page 4

THE COLONIST. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1917. AIR REPRISALS.

The new policy■ of air reprisals wrung from the Britisb Government by a long series of dastardly outrages perpetrated at frequent intervals since the end of 1914 in the south-eastern counties and London, will bo welcomed with relief throughout the Empire. The public of Britain have long been impatient of the excessive humanitarianism of the Government, which exposed districts within range of German aerodromes to the bomb of tie air assassin, while depriving them of the only really efficient protection thai exists—prevention, by striking the terror into the Gorman heart which the Germans ,have ineffectually striven to inspire in j England. The record of the Zeppelin and aeroplane raids against undefended cities, towns, and villages in England and France discloses one of the blackest pages in the history of German infamy in tins war. These raids serve no military purpose whatever,, nor is it intended that they should, as is abundantly plain from the character of the places selected for attack. They were conceived, as were such outrages' as the sinking of the Lusitania and the bombardment of Scarborough, in the spirit of the abominable doctrine enunciated by Bernhardi and scrupulously observed in all things by Germany, that German warfare must be ruthless and. terrible, shrinking from no atrocity, that tho enemy may bo the more completely terrorised and demoralised. The murderous air raids directed against England have taken a terrible toll of innocent life. The casualties which have attended the attacks on London and south-east coast towns during the last week—the most persistent but by no means the most terrible—bring the total reported casualties up to 370 killed and 1306 injured. The latter figures can only be accepted as approximate, as the lists issued in connection with some of the earlier raids were incomplete. With very few exceptions the victims were civilians, and tie majority women and children. The decline of the casualties in the later raids testifies to the growing efficiency of the air defences, of which anti-aircraft guns are the most important feature. The total casualties for the daily raids of the last •weok were 52 killed and 257 injured. In a single attack on tho East End of London on June 13th no fewer than 97 persons were killed and 439 injured. This was the most dreadful of the massacres whichl have shocked the world, but the results of others were little less terrible. Seventy-six killed and 174 injured was the consequence of the raid on May 25th last over the south-east coast, and tho raid on London and the East Coast on July 7th resulted in 59 persons being killed and 193 injured.. The wonderful increase in the efficiency of the air defences gives promise that before long German attacks would become too hazardous to be frequently undertaken, but there is one means only by which they can be immediately and effectually discour-' aged, and that is by retaliation in j kind. The doctrine of Lex talionis must supplant the sentimentalism which has too long prplected Germany from appropriate .punishment for her vile crimes.