“GET CHILDREN OUT”

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21225, 23 September 1940, Page 7

“GET CHILDREN OUT”

TERRORS OF BOMBING NO MATTER FOR JOKING (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Sept. 22 “The slogan ‘Get Children Out’ should be pinned in every Ministry in Whitehall,” says the Daily Mail. “Night after night thousands of children are in the danger areas, suffering the terrors of constant bombing. Hundreds are being killed. Some have seen their parents slaughtered, and watch their world crumble. “The search for safety is a pilgrimage of misery. Children are condemned to sleep in the humid atmopshere of tube stations, which are unhealthy, with no sanitation. “These dreadful ordeals must be spared the generation to which we look to build a brave new world after the war. Evacuation must be speeded up. Something more vigorous is needed than the Government gently urging parents to let their children go. “A lot of nonsense is being written about the wise-cracking Cockney joking about the horrors around him. These horrors are not jokes, and the average Cockney does not think them funny.” Provision of Shelter As thousands of people began to stream down to tube railway stations on Friday evening it was announced that the authorities were converting a large section of the Piccadilly line into an air raid shelter. The section is 563 yards long and of varying depth from 95 to 135 feet. The conversion should be simple. The tracks will be boarded over, and the section is already well lit, but improved ventilation will be necessary. Meanwhile, London’s shelter problem is receiving increased promini ence. The conditions in many of the 1 poorer districts are pitiable, due to j insufficient sanitation and seating, j Thousands are forced to stand for hours. The Government plans include organised nightly migration from the East End, with fleets of buses taking ] the people to and from their allotted shelters. The Ministry of Home Security in- ! tends to speed up the work of shel- ] ter improvement throughout London. Acute Overcrowding While the conversion of tubes was under discussion, thousands again took matters into their own hands and settled down on platforms for the night. The overcrowding was acute and the atmosphere most un- | pleasant. Many resorted to sleeping on the steps of escalators. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Home Security, Mr William Mabane, announced in a broadcast speech that active steps were being taken to improve air raid shelter facilities in London, both in regard to amenities in existing shelters and to extending the provision of public shelters where occupants could gain satisfactory rest. “The enemy wants to make casualties of us all,” Mr Mabane said. “Unfortunately, he must make casualties of some of us and we all sympathise with those who have suffered already and admire the fortitude with which their sufferings are being borne. But if each of us,'by individual effort in studying the use of shelter, can deprive the enemy of one casualty, then we, too, like the soldiers in the line, shall have played an active part.” Action by Ministry Wide measures are being adopted by the Ministry of Home Security and local authorities to lessen the inconvenience caused by random bombing. From Monday post offices will remain open after the sirens have sounded until the second warning indicating imminent danger is received. It is generally anticipated that compensation for essential clothing and furniture lost by raid victims will now be paid in full, the previous limits of £3O for clothing and £SO for furniture being removed. The chief measure, however, is understood to concern the adaptation of daytime shelters for night use by the provision of shelter marshals, sanitary arrangements and possible sleeping facilities. Many basements not already requisitioned will be equipped for “round-the-clock” use, as well as those already adapted for • daytime only. Plans for transporting people from the more vulnerable areas where shelter provisions are insufficient are understood to include the division of night evacuation areas into groups of streets, each group having allotted shelters in another area. From each group private coaches and buses will leave at a fixed time in the evening and return the people to their homes in the morning. Experiments, however, will first have to be made.