WAR OF NERVES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20065, 11 October 1939, Page 10

WAR OF NERVES

STRAIN IN BRITAIN WELL-BALANCED NATION EFFICIENCY OF FORCES “The intensive war of nerves endured toy the British nation was such that had her people been less balanced, the whole trade of the country would have been destroyed and the people might have cried for peace at any price,” said Sir James Elliott, of Wellington, in commenting on observations he made in England recently. “Everywhere oe went,” he said, “one heard the view expressed, before the outbreak of war last month, that the 1914-18 war would have to be fought again. Deplorable as this seemed to thinking people, the war

of nerves and the smash-and-grab tactics in Europe had produced the conviction that the sooner the war was begun and finished the better.” Sir James continued that from what he saw, read and heard in different parts of Great Britain, the navy had never been as efficient, and its officers were confident they could meet any emergency. The physique of recruits for the army was high, and the organisation behind the manufacture of munitions and aircraft was working with remarkable efficiency. “The most difficult part for Britain, perhaps, has been the overtaking of the neglect of previous administrations,” he concluded, '“when the policy was collective security and the League of 'Nations. The general opinion in England is that Mr. Chamberlain had to make peace at any price at Munich a year ago. Since then there has been intensive preparation.”