PREMIER’S SPEECH

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 September 1938, Page 6

PREMIER’S SPEECH

MR CHAMBERLAIN SHOWS DEEP EMOTION REMINDER OF NATIONAL TASKS. SPEECH & NEWS BROADCAST IN GERMAN. (Received This Day, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, September 27. Mr Chamberlain spoke for eight minutes in deep and anxious tones. There was pathos in his voice when he prefaced his address with a touching reference to premature letters of thanks received by himself and his wife when it was thought the Berchtesgaden consultation would produce peace. Mr Chamberlain’s emotion was noticeable when he mentioned his willingness to go a third time to Germany, followed by his admission of the apparent uselessness of such a visit. Mr Chamberlain did not falter, but the stress under which he was labouring was obvious when, in a few simple words, he expressed his passionate hatred of war, following by a chilling reminder of the national tasks lying at hand. He expressed the common people’s sense of frustration when he asked: “Isn’t it horribly incredible that we are digging trenches and trying on gas masks because of a quarrel in a far away country?” After Mr Chamberlain’s speech, a German speaker translated the speech and read a news bulletin containing items which had not appeared in the German Press, beginning with President Roosevelt’s message to Herr Hitler. This is the first time news has been broadcast in German from London.