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Hokitika Guardian, 27 August 1928, Page 2

It is easy to exaggerate the danger to London of an attack from the air if, says an exchange, we judge only by the recent manoeuvres. No manoeuvres, however conscientiously they may be carried out, can reproduce the conditions of actual warfare. Half the attacking planes are estimated to have penetrated the defences and dropped 200 tons of bombs, 50 tons of which, if loaded with the latest arsenical poison gas, would suffice to wipe out Central London. But we have to remember that in actual war tho country tlireatened, if it received any warning, would not wait for the attacking planes and rely solely on local defence, but would attack the enemy’s air fleets at their bases. The great danger of attacks from the air lies in the suddenness with which these attacks can be launched. A hostile Power might make an air attack before any formal declaration of war and do groat damage before the local defence forces could lie brought into action. There does not seem to bo any adequate military defence against this danger, AVe do not know, however, what prepaartions the AA’ar Office may have made for the defence of England against air attacks. The true defence lies in counter-attack, and this could only lie tested in war itself.