NEW ZEALAND DOUSE HAS NARROW ESCAPE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 221, 17 September 1940, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND DOUSE HAS NARROW ESCAPE.

TIME BOMB EXPLODES Officer's " Hunch" Saves Lives Of Family. • United Press Association.—Copyright, j (Reed. 2 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 16. Mr. Frasor's message appreciating their steadfastness in the air blitzkrieg has greatly encouraged the New Zealand High Commissioner's staff. The bomb which caused the evacuation of New Zealand House on Thursday last was discovered early in the morning by the house picket, a young member of the staff. He hastily collected cyphers and secret codes. The entire staff next day worked in the New Zealand Forces Club, formerly the Italian building, thus returning the hospitality given when the club was evacuated the day previously , when a time-bomb fell opposite. , New Zealand House was slightlv dam- i aged when the Iximb exploded. Although i the roar was heard miles away, some 1 windows were merely shattered and wooden palings and brick work damaged. ( The total damage was only a few 1 pounds' worth. Members of the staff j were uninjured. The air liaison officer had a remarkable escape due to a "hunch." He evacuated his wife and two children from their flat and slept the next night in a shelter. Returning to the flat in the morning he found the building demolished by a direct hit.

An incendiary bomb fell in the Strand during a recent daylight raid. A New Zealand soldier, who was leaning up against a wall, nonchalantly rubbed out ■the bomb with his foot. Londoners "Grim and Gay." Instructive commentary on the air fighting of the week-end, says a British official wireless message, is found in the German Press and wireless reports, which, as the "Daily Telegraph" says "have burst into frantic tales of destruction in London and the panic of Londoners. adds the "Telegraph," that desperate efforts of propaganda ® r ® : .to keep up the spirit of the G6rniaii people. This,* as usual, has thrown all restraint to the Winds, and .the .old, familiar and completely unfounded tales of the flight of the Court and Government and the collapse.of civil morale are given currency. . "One of these reports says the roads out of London are blocked with panicstricke.n refugees. There is no particle of truth in this report. London life "oes on, and the difficulties caused by°thn bombings are being surmounted with surprisingly little .apparent interference, even while air-raid warnings are in force. There is little noticeable diminution in the rush of London street traffic." The "Telegraph" adds: "Facts, not lies, will decide the war, and we have the right to be proud of the success of London's defence and the grim and gav temper of her people."