NORMALITY OF LONDON

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21225, 23 September 1940, Page 5

NORMALITY OF LONDON

PRESSMEN IMPRESSED MILK AND BREAD DELIVERED FOOD SUPPLIES ADEQUATE (Uaited Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 20 Rising after a night disturbed by the almost continuous roar of the anti-aircraft barrage, punctuated by the occasional crump of nearby enemy bombs, the average Londoner finds timely reassurance in the regular appearance of milk at his door and a newspaper in the letter-box. It is these manifestations of normality, bespeaking as they do the efficient functioning of the processes of communications and distribution over a wide area, and involving a great variety of activities, which have most deeply impressed foreign observers in London. This is obvious from the frequency with which the theme recurs in their despatches. The most recent example is the London correspondent of a Madrid newspaper, whose report in Friday’s issue insists on the normal manner in which the distribution of bread and milk is carried out in London. He says the food supplies have not been made worse by the raids. He also reported on the adequacy of the food supplies and the failure of the raids seriously to disturb the railway services. Foreign press representatives in the British capital are being driven to the same conclusion as was reached by Brigadier-General George Strong, who arrived in New York on Friday in the Yankee Clipper with the United States Army mission, which has been in Britain. He is stated to have expressed the view that if the bombardment of London continued the whole year on the same scale as in the last ten days before he left the result would probably begin to be serious. The bombing, he said, had been extensive but there had been no serious damage.