The Wingham Advance-Times, 1942-01-08, Page 7,tHE OtikEEt POR4 IN WI-004
C•BAECO.O C OE SM6KED,'
,
ized 'equipment must be put to max,
inium Use as well es proper organiz-
Mien of all available labor,
Community, township and county
organizations could :be of ',untold as-
sistance in organizing and advising ,on
this as well as other phases of crop
production this year, Mr. Dewar:
states,
WINGNAM ADVANCE,,TIMES "'Thursday January 8t1h 194
LONDON IN THE
BLACKOUT .AMAZIN G-
LY BLACK AND QUIET
This is the fourth of a series of
ariticles about conditions in Great
Britain and other countries visited
by a group of Canadian newspaper
editors. It was written for the week-
ly newspapers of Canada by their
own representative on the tour,,
Hugh Templin, of the Fergus News-
Record.
First impressions may not be ac-
curate, but they are always interest-
ing. .
The first thing that any visitor to
England wants to see is the damage
llone by `the bombs. I was no excep-
tion. The airport where our plane had
dropped us down on British soil was
interesting in its way, but much like
aa dozen others I had visited in Can-
.acla. There were only two apparent
differences:, the planes were of differ-
ent types, though there were a few
:familiar Avro Ansons, and the build-
ings were protected against the blasts
frorfi bombs dropping nearby.
The customs examination was brief,
though the examiner did show some
interest in the things I had thought
it necessary to take,to England with
me. I had a short brush with the
lady censor. She took away all, the
letters. I had carried from Canada and
appeared to be horrified that I had
taken along a map of the British Isles.
Apparently; I had unwittingly com-
mitted a grave crime and she said she
must confiscate it.
Evidently, a few girls get that way
when given some brief authority.
suet censors several times during the
next six weeks, but none like that
young lady." She even went so far as
to take away two picture postcards
had bought in the Azores on the flight
across the Atlantic. After a brisk argu-
inente in which the customs man took.
my part, I got the map back. The
letters and post cards-arrived by mail
at my hotel in London a week later
:after being censored.
First Impressions of Bombing
It was only a few miles to the near-
est city, a seaport on the west Coast
Of England, had never been across
the Atlantic before, so I watched'with
interest for the things Lhad been told
about so often, the small fields en-
elOSecl by hedges, the slated or tiled
roofs, the little locomotives pulling
long trains of tiny wagons. Nothing
really seemed strange, for photography
had rnade them all familiar, Only the
barrage balloOns floating over the
nearby hills showed that England had
changed.
As our tar entered the city, we all
loOked around curiously 'for signs of
damage, Rumors its Canada said that
this ancient port was practically de-
Stroyed. German versions said that
theo, dock area was rendered useless.
As we crossed a, bridge over the
riVer, I looked at the shipping and
saw no sign of damage to the docks.
The first blitzed house stood on a
corner. Or it had stood on the cor-
ner, for not a thing was left except
a pile of bricks in the basement. The
houses on either side seemed undam-
aged, except for a few boarded-up
windows, but the corner one was gone
as cleanly as though it had been carv-
ed out with a big knife.
I thought to myself: "This is ex-
actly what I expected to see: it looks
just' like the pictures."
In the next block, another house
had been hit. It wasn't as thoroughly
destroyed. One side wall remained,
and up it at irregular intervals were
the fireplacds which had once supplied
a bit of heat to its rooms. Part of the
floor of one upstairs room hung in the
air, with a bed on it.
Again there was that feeling that
this was just what I had expected.
It remained while we drove down a
long' street, with half a dozen houses
missing at more or less regular in-
tervals. After that, my feeling began
to change. Perhaps it was the mined
churches. Several of them had nothing
left but blackened walls. On the main
business street, many stores were
without windows; others were hollow
shells.
It made me angry before long. This
wanton damage seemed so senseless.
Obviously, military targets had not
been hit or they had been repaired
so quickly that the effect was slight.
It was the houses that had suffered
most, and the churches.
The train to London was crowded,
but the six of us got a compartment
'to ourselves. On the wall was a de-
tailed map of the railway Hue. I
thought of the girl in the censor's of-
fice and my map. But I never saw
another one on a British train, Most
of the railway stations have had lihe
names obilerated or the signs torn
down in the hope that invaders might
get lost.
London in the Blackout
The train was about half-Way to
London when blackout time arrived
at about half-past six. The guard came
in and pulled down heavy blinds over
all the -windows ,and doors. Even the
door out into the corridor had a blind
on it, It was the first hint that there
is nothing half-hearted about the
British blackout, It's black.
Inside. the railway carriage, two
dim .lights kept the compartment in a
state of semi-darkness. One was a
white light, set high up in a deep
funnel in the roof, The other light,
more exposed, was blue and did not
give enough light to make it possible
to read a newspaper. s .
Of aft the first impressions, none
is more vivid that that of my arrival
in London in the blackout. There was
sonic doubt about whether the train
had reached Paddington Station or
not but everybody seemed to ;he get-
ting out. One of the editors opened
the door. There wasn't A thing to be
seen except three scattered blue bulbs
in a ceiling high. overhead, Moving
shapes came past the door. and one
of them answered the question: "Is
this Paddington?" with a short, "Yes,
ale
Nobody who hasn't been there will
ever believe how dark London can be
iri the blackout at the time Of the new
Mott. Three blue 'bulbs really give
no light at all; they just intensify "the
darkness, And London was not Only
dark, but quiet as Well, This didn't
seem like a railway station. Outside,
not light allowed in the city.
Somehow, our hosts from the Brit-
ish. Council found us, and they knew
what to do, In a few momenta, they
had a porter hunting for .a taXleah.
Where be went, I'll never know, but
he canto back with two, and in the
light of later experience, that was
something of an achievement.
Our taxi driver was Old and his cab
was -ancient, Four persons and their
luggage seemed like too much of a
load,, but we entrusted ourselves to
him, hoping he knew what to do,
The only outdoor lights in London
are the traffic signals and the shelter
signs. Even the traffic lights are
covered, except a tiny cross in the
centre, The shelter signs have only
a dim "S" showing on them,
An Uncanny Quietness
The feeling persisted that this would
not possibly be the world's largest
city. Sometimes the taxi would stop
and a bus or some mere taxis would
go across th oeintersection. Each had
one dim headlight, fitted with shut-
ters so that it threw a circle of semi;,
darkness on the pavement. The win-
dows of the buses were covered. They
were just dim outlines as they passed.
The tiny red cross at the corner
would disappear and be replaced by
a green one and the driver would
start up again. Some of the editors,
familiar with London in the past,
asked him question about the local-
ities. Only once, at the corner of Hyde
Park, did one of them guess correctly.
I am told that London in normal
times is noisy at night, though not so
bad as New York, In the blackout,
it is quiet. There seem to be no pri-
vate cars, Taxi and bus drivers must
find their way largely by instinct.
The cab stopped under some kind
of roof. A man with a tiny pocket
flashlight helped us out and called for
someone to take the bags. We passed
one by one through a revolving door
and emerged suddenly into the bright
light of a hotel lobby.
There was something familiar about
the place. The feeling persisted even
after I had been taken to my room
and had looked into the bathroom
with its Roman bath and, Royal Doul-
ton fixtures, reminders of past splen-
dor. Then I rememberel. I had seen
this famous hotel in moving pictures
long ago.
Bomb Damage in London
The next morning, I saw London
for the first time, Our hosts from the
British Council came around in an ,old
car and drove us around the central
part of the city, particularly that part
of Old London which had been de-
stroyed by the Great .Fire in 1666 and
rebuilt better than it had been. Now
it has been destroyed again,
East of St. Paul's Cathedral and
north of Fleet Street, there is an area
of almost a sqtare mile with hardly
a building standing. Perhaps you have
seen that remarkable photograph
which shows the great dome of St.
Paul's standing up above a mass of
smoke and flames, while in the fore-
ground the walls of ruined houses are
silhOuetted against the fire. I had
wondered sometimes if that photo-
graph was not faked. In a room of the
Press Club in London, I saw the ori-
ginal. Walking through the ruins of
the old City of London, it is still easy
to picture that terrible night.
Many of the walls which stood up
in that blackened area since the big
blitz last ,December have been torn
clown by demolition squads. Where
there are basements and turned into
water reservoirs for fighting future
fires.
This was an area of office build-
ings and publishing houses, with a
number of fine old churches and some
of the most famous administrative
buildings, It was burned in a con-
centrated blitz one week-end before
the Londoners had learned how to
fight the incendiary bomb, I don't
think it could ever happen again. An
incendiary bomb is small and light, A
large bombing plane might carry a
thousand of them. They are showered
down by hundreds and are just heavy
enough to goo through a slate" roof, It
is two minutes or so before they burst
into flame. Every second counts. The
incendiary bomb can be tokittered in
the first two or three minutes. After
that, it takes the fire brigade to do
anything about it.
Strangely enough, the things that
touch the heart of the observer in
desolate areas like this are the small
things. In ruined houses, it is dolls II
or other toys lying around: in former
office buildings, it is battered type-
writers, or some other evidence of the
normal life that was once carried on
there,
A. H. IVItTAVISK B.A.
' Teeswater, Ontario.
Barriatex, Solicitors Notary Public
and Conveyancer
Office: Oofton House, Vilroxeter
every -Thttraday afternoon 1.20 to
4.0 and by appointment.
Phalle Teeswater 120 ,
Our 25 Point Scientific Eitamin,
ation enables us to give von
Clear, comfortable Vision
F. F. 1-1 ()MUTH
Optometrist
Phone 118 Harriston
'yet even in the, midst of this desol-
ation, I had the feeling that the. Ger-
man bombers had failed. They had
not even tried to hit military targets.
It is thought that they tried to wipe
out the whole of London's fire fight-
ing apparatus. They didn't succeed.
The fire brigades were massed in that
small area and more bombers came
Over, dropping high explosive bombs.
Suddenly they stopped coming, It is
said that a mist arose back over the
Channel and it was feared they could
not return safely, Whether that was
the reason or not, London's fire fight-
ers escaped to fight another day.
Seeing other parts of London later,
I felt again and again that the Ger-
man bombers had failed, They de-
stroyed thousands of houses and store
es and offices and dozens of churches,
They did get many factories along
the Thames. But they not only failed
to frighten the British people: they
also missed many of the most temp-
ting targets.
For instance, every bridge over the
Thames is in operation, It is said not
one has been hit though thousands of
bombs have gone into the water in an
attempt to cut traffic. There are tem-
porary bridges which can be quickly
finished if any bridge is destroyed.
They have never been needed.
I wandered through the dock area
near Tower Bridge one day. The little
houses in hte East End have taken
a bad punishment. In two places, I
saw vacant lots piled high with bricks
that must have come from hundreds
of houses, But the docks were still in
operation as usual with convoys going
out the Thames. It was obvious that
Tower Bridge itself had never been
hit. The Tower of London has. lost
only a corner of one small bastion.
There hasn't been any bombing in
London lately. It is now five months
since the last bombs have fallen on
the capital. Only once while I was
in London, did an enemy plane ever
come near the city. From the roof of
a newspaper office, I -watched the
flashes of the anti-aircraft guns away
to the east, The 'German never got
through.
There was bombing going on all
that time, but it was around the coasts
of Britain. I came through a bomb-
ing one night in Bournemouth, and
will tell of it in a later story. But
conditions have obviously changed,
The Germans no longer have super-
iority in the air. Defences are stronger.
It dosen't seem likely that the British
will be "blitzed" again as they were
last winter: actual invasion seems im-
possible.
Asks Agriculturalists
To•Organize Committees
In Every Ontario County
Hon. P. M. Dewan Appeals for Co-
Operation of all Farmers in Gigantic
Crop Production Effort for 1942
Believing that community, township
and county organizations composed of
farmers would be of material assis-
ance in furthering the enormous war
effort Ontario agriculturalists will
have to make in 1942. Hon. P. M,
Dewan, Ont. Minister of Agriculture
has asked Agricultural Represent-
atives in the various counties to take
the lead in organiziAg committees for
war purposes only.
"When such' organization is corn-
pleted, any committees that are form ,
ed will be in a position to advise and
act regarding local conditions particu-
larly, and also advise upon provincial
and national problems as required,"
said Mr, Dewan. "Through their local
contact they will be able to co-operate
with any and all groups and depart-
meats interested in the production of
food products."
"The Agricultural Representative
will become the .active government
agehcy in this work and it will have
precedence over all other activities in
the calls upon his time. The Depart-
ment is Convinced that the urgency
of the situation demands this and ap-
peals for the co-operation of all farm-
ers throughout the province," Mr.
bewail declared.
War conditions have made imper-
ative gigantic Canadian agricultural
production in 1.0.42, with a call for
export of 600,000,000 pounds of bac-
on.; 125,00,900 pounds of cheese
(mostly froth Ontario); One Million
cases of eggs and large 'quantities of
processed milk.
tinder normal farm labor conditions,
Canadian farmers would not find too
much tr.:Mot:Hy iri filling evert these
huge totittacitS, but acute labor
shortage means that aft farm median.
WESTFIELD
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Speigeberg
and son Barkley, and Miss Jean Camp-
bell of Kitehiener, spent New Years
with their parents, ,Mr. and Mrs, W.
A. Campbell.
Mr. and Mrs, Cardiff and family of
Brussels were New Years visitors at
the home of Mr, and Mrs, Charles
Smith.
Mr. and Mrs. J. L, McDowell and
Gordon, were guests on Thursday at
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon
Smith of oGderich.
Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Campbell,
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Horne, spent
Thursday with Mr. and Mrs, Wm.
Miller of Goderich.
Mr. and Mrs, !Geo. Cook and family
of Belgrave spent Thursday with Mr.
and Mrs. Fred J. Cook,
Mr. and Mrs, .Norman McDowell
and children spent New Years with
Mr, and Mrs. Carl Deans of Wing-
ham.
The funeral of the late T. H, Taylor
was held on Tuesday afternoon, De-
cember 30th, from his late residence
on the 6th concession of East Wawan-
osh, and was largely attended, Rev.
H. C. Wilson, his pastor, conducted
the service and also sang a, solo. 'The
floral tributes were beautiful. The
flower bearers were four grandsons,
Ronald Taylor of Donnybrook, Dick-
son Taylor of Thamesford, Ross and
Billy Taylor of Westfield, The pall
bearers were four sons, Rev. Wm.
Taylor, Rev, Elmer Taylor, Wilbert
and Melvin, also Win. McDowell and
Lewis Cook. The interment was in
Wingham Cemetery. Those attending
from a distance were: Mrs. Laverne
Pentland and Panda of Detroit; Mrs.
Ed. Taylor of near Guelph; Mrs. La-
vina Webster; Miss Doreen Webster
of Toronto; Mrs. Wm. Taylor; Mr.
and Mrs. Jim Taylor; Mrs. Bowles of
Guelph; Mr, and Mrs. Elliott Taylor;
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Morgan, Ripley;
Mr. Ben Taylor, Blyth. Other friends
were present from Blyth, Wingham,
Lucknow, St. Helens and Auburn.
Sg. M. N. Kenneth Campbell of the
4th division R.C.C,S. of Debert, Nova
Scotia, is spending a few days with
his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. A.
Campbell.
Mr. Ivan Wightman of the 6th con-
cession, East Wawanosh, Miss Mae
Wightman 'of Blyth, Mr. W. C. Wal-
sop, in training at St. Thomas, visited
Twenty-five pounder field guns, re-1
(wiring- in their manufacture infinit e .!
skill and worlcinansship, :are now being
turned out in large numbers from a •1
Canadian plant. Photo shows barrels ;
recently at the, home of Mr. and Mrs.
Earl .Wightman.
Miss Jean McDowell has returned to
London after spending a couple 'of
weeks with her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
J, L. McDowell.
Mr, Ivan Wightman left for Galt
this week where he is taking his
training as a mechanic in the R. A. F.
Mr. Gordon )3osman and Graerne
McDowell were Kitchener visitors on
Sunday.
Miss Jean Kershaw and Miss Snider
of Goderich, visited last week at the
home of Mr. and Mrs, Marvin Mc-
Dowell.
The Y. P. U. met on Wednesday
evening with about 25 present. The
meeting was led by Murray McDowell
with Mr. A, E. Cook at the piano,
The Lord's Prayer was repeated in
unison. Scripture lesson was read by
Mr. A. E, Cook. Volac solo by Rob-
erta McVittie, Violin solo, Harvey Mc-
Dowell accompanied by Graeme Mc-
Dowell. The topic was given by Elvin
Wightman. The meeting was closed
with the Mizpah Benebidction. Games
were played under the leadership of
Fern McDowell and Ray Vincent.
Apples and cookies were served.
Sgmn. K. Campbell of Debert, Nova
Scotia and Miss jean Campbell of
Kitchener, visited on Saturday at the
home of their aunt, Mrs. Win. Crozier
and Mr. Crozier of Crewe.
Miss Fern McDowell is visiting
with Mr, and Mrs. Roy McSween of
Hamilton.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Taylor, Mrs. Win.
Taylor, Mrs. Bowles of Guelph, were
recent visitors at the home of Mr. and
passing through one of the many
operations between the melting of thin
scrap iron and the completion of the
finished gun, ready to fire. The entire.'
process takes place under the one roof'.
Mrs. Win. McDowell,
Mr. Leslie 'Rodger of St. Catharines
was a recent visitor at the home ,of his
brother, Mr. Emerson Rodger
Sgrim. K. Campbell and Mrs. W. E.
Campbell visited on Monday with Mra •
and Mrs. Richard Gardiner of Luck-.
now,
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bosnian of
Leamington, Mr. and Mrs, Ray Ken-.
drick of Collingwood, Mr. Harold
Bosnian of Brantford, were recent
visitors at the home of Mr; and Mrs. -
Maurice Bosnian,
Mr, and Mrs, Maurice Bosnian visit-
ed on Monday with Mr. and Mrs, D.
McNichol of Walton.
So Shocking
A true story is being told of a cer-
tain Ontario minister who is getting
along in years and whose memory is
not as good as it might ge. He buried
a woman member of• his congregation.
and some time later when he met her
dahghter on the street he forgot about
the funeral and .asked: "And how is
your mother standing the heat?"
• ,wegosuae
MONUMENTS at first cost
Having our factory equipped with the
most modern machinery for the exe-
cution of high-class work, we ask you
to see the largest display of monu-
ments of any retail factory in Ontario.
MI finished by sand blast machines.
We import all our granites front the
Old Country quarries direct, in the ...
rough. You can save all local deal- -
ens', agents and middleman profits by
wing us.
E. J. Skelton & Son
at West End Bridge—WALKERTON
dtaoleto
elLAIMED to be the tastest medium bomber in the
' world the Bristol Beaufighter is designed for rapid
production. It can be used as a bomber, torpedo carrier
and `mine layer. 'These aircraft are being turned out in
large numbers in Australia.
There are.two 1,065 Bristol air-cooled engines and
the airscrew has a controllable pitch. The wing span
is S7 feet, 10 inches, and the length is 44 feet, two
inches. The speed is about 300 miles per hour.
There is a power-operated gun turret on top of the
fuselage and there are forward machine-guns. The crew
of four is made up of a pilot, gunner, navigator and
radio operator.,,
a
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