GAS IS HERE TO KILL!

Radio Record, 24 June 1938, Page 29

GAS IS HERE TO KILL!

‘Cheerful Soldier Points Out Fun of Dying # 3 OOKS that indict war are j : & stirring and often terrible. y Far more terrible and not at all stirring are the books that accept war. H. A. Sisson has written a manual on gas warfare, published by Hutchinson, London, that is-quite unintentionally -the most damning criticism of militarism a thinking man could devise. "On Guard Against Gas" explains "the steps to be taken by the ordinary @itizen to defend his family." Written chattily by a humorous soldier, it should be treasured by the eynic,as nearly as his Bible. "The ordinary citizen" will probably find it most helpful, most reassuring, most wise. He should buy it. For the foliowing garbled extracts give no idea of the cold sanity of this book-merely of the insanity that has made its writing possible :- Without "Quotes" {tr is war, And qa city of women and children are hurrying forlornly about their little tasks, turning the home wheels as best they can while the men are away. Indeed, they are doing more than that. Some of them are knitting socks for the soldiers and the girls have left shops and offices to watch the machines in ammunition factories, to cut up and sew the soldiers’ uniforms that «are streaming from the looms, It is all very silly of them. Naturally, this sort of spoon-feeding for the mer at the front only tends to Jengthen a War unnecessarily. .. so, an few score miles away, the enemy Headquarters are working out plans to stop their nonsense. ,. Anyway, the ranks of the men at the front are getting so thin lately there its a whole air fleet of 200 ’planes that have nof found a single foe to shoot down for at least 21 hours, It will be fun to have an air attack on the Cily of Women and Children, say Headquarters, .. Dear me, one hopes the weather will stay overcast, it makes gassing so mueh more — satisfactory. Not that it matters very much, The main idea is to get the women and children properly panicked, Then they’! stampede and trample each _ other, they’ll refuse to go to work or get screaming hysterics and tear off their gas masks in the middle of a cloud of hay-scented phosgene. People are quite comical about gas, reflected Headquarters,

"TOW the plans are drawn up: 1u0 aeroplanes to carry high explosive bombs, 50 incendiary and 50 gas. Each high explosive load to be eight 500pound bombs. making 800 in all. The incendiary bombs to be in three-pound cases su that 50 planes can carry 1400 each. or 70,000 in all. The gas planes to carr; 90 per cent. of mustard gas in light metal or glass one-gallon cont ‘ners, each weighing 10 pounds so that there can be 20,000 in all, Also taken will be 8 tons of phosgene (the small amo nt is a very amusing little strategy, since the City of Women and Children won’t know for a short time what gas is heing dropped and, of course, will be liable to still further panic). What a pity, reflect enemy Headquarters in whimsical mood, that one can’t drop virulent bacteria and cancer bombs. That would cause panie if you like! With people getting so cursedly blase, gas is losing half its noveliy nowndays, ~ Still, shrugged Ileadquarters, one has to be content with small blessings. Maybe when civilisation has advanced a bit more.,. Poor Slaughter ]V[ERCIFULLY ihe weather stayed overcast that day and the air fleet took off sharply on time, Away it went with a fine brave roar, headed for the City of Women and Children. . . Isn't it exciting? said Tfeadquarters hoyishly. jut unfortunately there was a little difficulty, Someone had pimped on Headquarters, and the City of Women and Children had had quite three-quarters-of-an-hour’s warning before the raid. The anti-aircraft guns kept the planes nt 25,000 feet and the pilots were naturally annoyed. A fellow can’t expect to get every time a coconut at that range. .. Besides, most of the women and children had scurried to their shelters and were going about with respirators, looking like Bottoms in. some midsummer nightmare. The planes dropped their

cargoes Without much interest and flew off dispiritedly. I¢ had been a very dull day... UT when reports came through to. Headquarters, everyone was delighted. Apparently, the City of Women and Children had got quite panicky after all. At about the eleventh or twelfth hour in the gas-proof shelters, some of the children had got the absurd idea that their skin was itching and they couldn’t breathe properly. Some of the women also behaved foolishly. So work at the factories had been held up for three hours. On the whole a most productive day’s outing for 200 planes, decided Headquarters. Cream Of Jest (THEN suddenly they all laughed and laughed. Because, of course, the cream of the jest. was that there really needn’t have been any stoppage of work at all if the City of Women and Children had only behaved like intelligent human beings. Headquarters meditated on the stupidity of mankind. Why all this fuss about gas? Inhumane? Nonsense, 96 per cent, of gas casualties recovered, whereas only 25 per cent. of victims of high explosive lived to tell the tale. Besides, gas kills the ignorant and panicky, the City of Women and Children. High explosive tends to kill the brave men at the front. Headquarters reflected how 600 years ago when guns were first used people said they were cowardly and inhumane, just as they now said gas was cowardly and inhumane. Why, guns are quite respectable and even romantic nowadays, thought Headquarters happily. One must be patient. Surely, when people are educated up to it, they will realise the fascination and mystery of gas, the scientific thrills of gas warfare, ... (Continued over page.)

AX yes, Mr. Sisson has certainly been very clever in his unmasking of a new neurdsis-the public’s "natura] dislike" of gas. But his book is so very, very sensible that it-must certainly convince us what old-fashioned fools we have been not to see the 1938 gas-mind-ed soldier’s point of view long ago. "On Guard Against Gas," by H. A. Sisson, 0.B.E., M.A., F.0.A., formerly D.A.D.G.S., G.H.Q., B.ELF, (Hutehinson, London). Our copy from the publishers. LIMITED, BUT NOT DULL STORY OF KATI KATI TT is a common lament that so much New Zealand history ha: been left unrecorded till after the death of the original settlers. Fortunately, however, first-hand information about the founding of some of the later settlements is still available, and another New Zealand historian, Mr. A. J. Gray, is to be congratulated on anticipating the laments of future generations by recording the story of the Katikati settlement. Vesey Stewart, who founded the settlement in the ’seventies, did not live to see the publication of this record. In fact, few of the early settlers are left now, but they were more numerous when Mr, Gray commenced some years ago to assemble his information, One of the survivors is Sam Middlebrook. Stewart’s guide on his first visit to the district who is still living at Katikati. Because of its limited scope the book contains little that is spectacular, but it is interesting for two widely-different reasons-hbecause the circumstances jn which Katikati was founded were unusual, and because the settlement’s later history has been an entirely typical one, The most avid readers will, of course. be the residents of the district, but the man who has no strong conscious interest in his country’s history will find the 132 pages of "An Ulster Plantation" surprisingly good reading. Jt is no dull catalogne of names and events, but a brightly-written story. Take, for instance, the passage: "The real centre of old Katikati was the hotel. Tt will he remembered that the Tauranga Licensing Bench, while refusing a permanent license to Mrs. Bell, had let it be known that no objection would be raised if a strong lJanalord could be found. Historians tell us that the honr of crisis alWays produces the man. So it Was in this case. With the air of a conjuror extracting a rabbit from a silk hat, the thirsty men of Katikati brought forward Bernard McDonnell" (pp 79-80), Katikati has produced more than its quota of notable men--David Gallaher, who captained the 1905 All Blacks and lies in France, a world’s champion axeman, the Hon. CG. BR. Maemillan, Dr. H. D, A. Major, who is principal of Ripon Wiall, Oxford. and leader of the Modern Churchman movement, and Mr, Alan Mulgan, the NBS Director of Talks, who wrote the infroduction, ("An Ulster Plantation," by A. 4. Gray. Reed. Our copy from the publishers, ]

SMOOTHLY EXCITING BUT NOTHING MORE ‘TO informed readers of detective stories, a novel by Andrew Soutar needs no introduction from critics: nor will they be disappointed with his latest Phineas Spinnet story, "The Black Spot Mystery," just published by Hutchinson. This thriller is no better and no worse than what has gone before it. For years of "shockers"-writing has taught Mr. Soutar how to Jay on his purple patches in just those cunning places where they will lure the frightened reader into racing on, chapter after chapter, long past his normal bedtime. Nevertheless, for all its nicely sustained excitement, ‘The Black Spot Mystery" is not the hook to tickle the palate of the blase. It has no novelty either of treatment or situation, and there may be some who are growing just a little weary of murderers who leave their trademark-in this ease the black spot-upon their victims; of dark, deserted houses and silences which contain a sinister presence; of homicidal maniacs and private detectives who invariably make the Scotland Yard officers look sueh very, very small men in their hig boots. Still, maybe, one should not cavil. Detective stories that rise above the satisfactory are rare indeed, and one must at least he grateful to Mr. Soutar for his smooth, technical competence and his dependability. His skinny sleuth with the acid tongue may not he attractive, but he is consistent and he gets there. If Mr. Soutar does not permit Spinnet to make a fortune out of his private detective agency, one can he quite sure on the other hand that Spinnet makes money for Mr. Soutar. "The Black Spot Mystery," by Andrew Soutar. (Hutchinson and Co., U.id. Loncon.) Gur copy from the publishers.