BRITISH DEFENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20741, 27 February 1939, Page 7

BRITISH DEFENCE

AN HISTORIC MILESTONE DELIVERY OF SHELTERS DESCRIBED AS TIN HEAVENS (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 26 What may become, in the eyes of future chroniclers, an historic milestone, was a procession of railway vans down Timber Street, Islington, yesterday delivered the first air raid shelters, in the form of sectional steel archways, which are being distributed gratis to citizens earning under £5 a week. One housewife said: “I hope we never have to use it, but if the worst does not come to the worst it will do for a summer house.” The local description of the shelters is “tin heavens.” DEFENCE LOANS BILL DISCUSSIONS IN PARLIAMENT LABOUR PARTY’S AMENDMENT (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Feb. 25 Various aspects of the Government's defence plans will be debated in the House of Commons on three days next week. On Monday the Dofence Loans Bill will be discussed on second reading' and on the'following days a wide range of subjects, including the shelter policy, evacuation, billeting and food supplies, will be reviewed in a debate on the supplementary items for civil defence and national service. The Labour Opposition on Monday will move a reasoned amendment which, while recognising the regrettable necessity for the unprecedented defence programme, invites the House to express that in the interests of efficiency and public economy the Bill ought to be preceded by more effective measures for the co-ordination of services, the organisation of supply and the elimination of excessive private profits. A strong plea to the Government to adopt a policy of planned decentralisation of industry was made by the

F.arl of Lytton, addressing the 40th annual meeting of the Garden Cities and Town Planning Association. The association had urged this course on social grounds in the past, but vulnerability in time of war, said Lord Lytton, had given new urgency to the demand. In the factory trades alone London had nearly one-quarter of the workers of England and Wales, and he hoped a halt would be called in the continued expansion of London. DEFENCE IN THE PACIFIC AGAINST JAPANESE ATTACK (United Tress Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) BERLIN, Feb. 25 The Lokalanzeiger, in an article on the defence of the British Empire, states that the New Zealand and Australian naval and air forces, in cooperation with Britain in East Asia, have already worked out a Singapore-Darwin-New Guinea defence line iully co-ordinated as a barrage against Japanese attack.