Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1940. THE NAZIS AND LIGHTNING WAR.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 March 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1940. THE NAZIS AND LIGHTNING WAR.

of the principal leaders of Nazi Germany have been at considerable pains of late to convey an impression that the war is about to begin. A day or two ago it was reported that Marshal Goering had told the American Assistant Secretary of State (Mr Sumner 'Welles), who was then visiting Germany that: —

All I have to do is to press a button at the Fuehrer’s command and the largest air armada in history will start for the British Isles and bring destruction compared with which the air operations against convoys and other craft will be mere pinpricks.

More recently, Grand-Admiral von Raeder has threatened lightning war and has declared that every modern means of warfare will soon be employed against- the Western Powers, especially on tlie East Coast of Britain.

It is very probable that with the opening of the season in the northern hemisphere a furious intensification of conflict may be witnessed and that this may include air bombing which will mean widespread death and devastation. It by no means follows, however, that Germany is in a position decisively to influence the. course of events in conditions of intensified warfare or in any other conditions. There is in fact a good deal to suggest, or more than suggest the contrary. Amongst the leaders of the Allied nations there is a creditable absence of any inclination to emulate the loud-mouthed boasting and truculence of Nazis like Goering and von Raeder. Both British and French statesmen prefer rather to emphasise the serious magnitude of the task by which their nations are confronted.

This is as it should be. Al the same time there are some specific and established facts which are worth bearing in mind at a lime when the noise of Nazi boasting fills the air. The greatest of these facts is that any margin of military advantage Germany possessed at the outbreak of war most certainly has been narrowed very considerably today. Taking account of the combined efforts of the British Empire and France, with the added factor of heavy purchases of aircraft and other war material from the United Slates, it is not in doubt that in the six months since the war began, the Allies have built up their military strength enormously, both absolutely and in relation to German strength.

One of yesterday’s cablegrams quoted the Paris edition of the New York “Herald-Tribune” as'stating that France’s production of aircraft since the summer of last year has been greater than that of Germany. If that is true, it follows that the total Allied air strength greatly exceeds that, of Germany. No finally conclusive evidence is available on points like these, since every fighting nation guards the secret of its air strength. It is not in doubt, holwever, that the Allies have considerably outpaced Germany in building up their military strength of all kinds during the last six months and are still doing so. This is to say in other words that the best opportunity for the “lightning war” which the Nazi leaders are still predicting has passed.

This does not mean that the Allied nations are in the position of being able to sit back comfortably and await the development of events. In reply to the claim that time is fighting on the side of the Allies, a French Minister declared

not long ago that time is neutral. This is a wise and just contention, because victory depends on enterprising and efficient action as well as on expanding strength. The volume of available forces and of resources of all kinds is in itself immensely important to any nation at war, however, and from that standpoint Germany, if she ever had an opportunity for seeking to end and win the war by a lightnhig stroke, certainly has missed her most advantageous moment. A savage intensification of the war with the opening of the northern spring may be anticipated less on account of any real initiative Germany is in .a position to exercise than because her Nazi dictators are threatened with failure, exposure and downfall and, being what they are, may be expected to resort to the tactics of cornered rats. In the extent to which they are able to dominate and coerce the German nation, they will no doubt plunge into the most reckless military gamble rather than admit themselves defeated. The outlook thus opened is sufficiently dark and menacing, but it is by no means onesided. All the power of the Ajllies may not avail to prevent a wide extension on both sea and land of the tactics of cowardly and brutal murder Germany is employing at present against Allied and neutral shipping down to unarmed fishing boats. On the other’ hand, it may reasonably be hoped that the Allies are well able to counter and more than counter anything that Germany may attempt. In the last war the German nation enjoyed a virtual immunity in its own territory from war effects other than that of the blockade. That immunity most certainly will not. be repeated if any attempt is made to carry into effect the threats of Goering and von Raeder.

A REFORM LONG DEFERRED. JN his presidential report to the annual conference of the Municipal Association of New Zealand, the Mayor of Masterton (Mr T. Jordan) once again raised his voice on behalf ol a reform that has been talked about in this country over a long period of years, but as yet. has been talked about in vain—the reform of our obsolete and uneconomical system of local government. We pride ourselves on being a progressive people, but in the matter of local government ’we are lagging a long way behind the times and have much to learn from many other countries.

As Mr Jordan sadly pointed out, hopes -were raised early in the term of the present Government of the creation of larger units of local self-government and a wider devolution of legislative authority and control, but these hopes are tending as simply as any old soldier to fade away. Admittedly this merely repeats what has happened under a series of preceding governments. One after another past administrations proposed to grapple purposefully and constructively with the problem of local government reform, but only to come to a halt. al. the stage of proposal. It would perhaps be unfair to blame only successive governments and Parliaments for this humiliating record of failure. Public apathy has at all times been an important contributing factor and reform has been opposed persistently also by a considerable proportion of those holding office as local body members. 'Many members of local bodies have been and are much less progressively inclined in this matter than Mr Jordan and others who share his views. JI certainly must be hoped, as Air Jordan said al the eonlerenec of the Municipal Association yesterday, “that the second century of our history will not be old before a substantial effort is made to correct and rationalise this absurd condition of local government in (he Dominion.” An awakening to the best interests of the community at large, rather than any compromise of conflicting interests. is needed to create a universal and emphatic demand for local government reform. As Air Jordan observed, regional planning, nearly ail tlm materials lor which are already stored in tin 1 departmental pigeon-holes, is the essential basis on which the reform that is so long overdue ought to be built and must, be built if it 'is to lake shape on really practical lines. Instead of being based on an intelligent, appreciation of regional facts and regional needs, and on wide community of interest, onr system socalled, of local government is' preposterously parochial ’ uneconomical and enfeebled. With matters in that state we deprive ourselves as a people of the effective control we oil-lit to exercise over our central Government. The corollary”' Io an antiquated and parochial system of local government is an undue centralisation of control over what should be loc-al affairs, nominally in the hands of the Government and Parliament and actually in the hands of an official bureaucracy.’