IN DOCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 222, 18 September 1940, Page 7

IN DOCKLAND.

ONE MAN KILLED. Deluge Of Destruction In Adjoining Areas. British Official Wirelees. (Reed. 2 p.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 17. The Minister of Shipping, Mr. R. M. Cross, described in a broadcast a visit to the London docks, and paid a tribute to the dwellers of dockland. "A few days ago," he said, "I made a tour of the Port of London, which lias been a main target of the German raiders. You will have read about the terrible onslaughts. Hundreds of German aeroplanes have rained high explosive bombs and incendiary bombs on the docks. A good deal of damage has been done. "Great fires have lit up our skies at night. We have wondered whether anything could possibly survive them. What was the true extent of the damage the Germans, too, are no doubt wondering, and you will not expect me to satisfy their curiosity. "Our fire-fighting men have been quite wonderful. I have seen them tired out, still working on their hoses. I have seen them going home in their tenders,, utterly worn, filthy dirty, and sleepily seeming to prop each other up, but still full of grim cheerfulness, ready to crack a joke with the passengers of any ear that might overtake them, and more than ready to start off again the moment they were needed. "After days and nights of horror and bombs and flames, thanks to the wonderful air raid shelter organisation of the Port of London authorities, there has been only one man killed by enemy action within the limit of the docks, and he was in a tin cabin which by sheer had luck got a direct hit. "But outside the docks the story is very different, and there is a strange sight in the miles of firemen's hoses, running the length of street after street. Havoc Among the Poorest. "London's docks are surrounded by a densely crowded area. There are many miles of small streets, wliere hundreds of thousands of London's poorest people live in tiny houses, mostly weakly built. To their everlasting shame, the Huns poured a deluge of destruction upon these unlucky folk. "I saw their wicked havoc. I saw the mangled wreckage of these little homes, hundreds upon hundreds of them. I saw sights to bring tears to your eyes. I came back home wondering how man could be so foul, and also how man could be so brave, but knowing well that here in London, here in England, here in our Empire, is a spirit that must and shall conquer the powers of evil."