Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1942-08-20, Page 6PAGE s» alEm.$EAPO H NEWS "Enemy at Your Gates: take Necessary .Action" (By Augustus Muir, Mr. Mali, is Food Controller "somewhere in Eng- land," All night I had been expecting the telephone to ring, and i had Slept in. a state of subconscious alertness, The reason was a sealed envelope that lay on my desk, marked plainly with an order that I was not to open M until half past twelve the following day. It had come by post enclosed in another envelope. Who had sent it I had no means of knowing , But I made a pretty shrewd guess that it had something to do with one of those invasion tests we had been having from time to time in recent weeks in our sector of the country- side. "Action Stations. Get Busy" I was in the middle of breakfast when at last the phone rang, A voice spoke quietly to me over the wire: "Message from the Food Executive Officer. Practice drill, Enemy bomb- ing airdreme here. German para- troops expected to land, Action sta- tions. Get busy." I didn't finish my breakfast. I knew that a complete record woulr be call- ed for, and I was expected to keep a note of everything that happened from this moment until the end of the exercise. I had no idea whether this was merely a local drill, or whether the same kind of thing was happening all over Great Britain, for of course there are voluntary food organizers in all parts of the country. Each of these organizers is the deputy of Lord Woolton, the Food Minister; and in the event of any district being cut off fro the sur- rounding areas in an invasion, the local organizer becomes the Food Controller in every sense of the term. He has the full power of His Maj- esty's Government behind him to deal with all food matters, under the general jurisdiction of the British military commander on the spot, And so, having received the message that a state of emergency existed — at least on paper—I hurried down to carry out my official duties in the village store. Dismayed—For Half a Minute For the space of about thirty sec- onds the storekeeper's face regist- ered surprise and dismay. He htought it was an invasion in fact—not in fancy. I had unfolded the huge poster which would come into use the mo- ment I received word that the real thing had come along. This poster would be plastered up on his door, and would tell all and sundry that the shop was closed for three or four hours so that we could take stock. The reason for this is quite plain. As local Food Controller, I shall want to know ;.exactly how many days or weeks this village and the surrounding district can exist on the food actually in hand; and I shall also want to know the quantity of any given commodity that I can dole out per head of the population. I ex- plained to the storekeeper that I wanted these facts now for my report, and he made a rapid checkup. The result satisfied me; I took a few notes, and hurried on to my next task. This was the distribution of iron rations, supplied to me by the Gov- ernment, and hidden in a secret place for use in emergency. They are ready to be distributed at any moment by day or night, and the dump will be emptied of its contents within a short time of my receiving word that an invasion has begun. I have divided my district into four sectors, so I proceeded to send out four messengers with word that every household must send someone at once to collect iron rations and pur- chase one week's supply of food from the shop. If anyone has insufficient money at the moment, the food will be doled out all the same way. One merely signs along a dotted line, and the supply is handed across the counter. Nobody must go hungry so long as there is food in this coo- .. Inanity. Doling Out the Iron Rations My next task was to attend to the supply of fresh meat and milk. There would be no shortage of these, for there are plenty of cows in the dis- trict. As for mutton, there will be no lack of that—although the mutton is still frisking about in the fields—and we have arranged for a man who was a butcher in his younger days, to get to work on it as soon as that is necessary. Having set all this machinery in motion. I made one or two adjust- ments, I arranged that htere would be a minimum of delay in the doling out of the iron rations to the vill- agers and farm folk who would begin to Collect in a few minutes;; and I saw to it that the storekeeper bad a fev extra bands to help him at the counter, I also arranged for the delivery of food to those housewives who had been linable to send for it. This delivery would be made in a light von drawn by a pony; and it would go by the held tracks, for of course all roads nlust be kept clear so that the army trausport Vehicles' would have a clear can through, I happen to be Seuioc Air Raid Warden iu the village, and it is my duty in ail invasion to keep all oivil- ian$ off the roads unless they have an official pass: to impede the mili- tary forces would be a cardinal crime. As I was issuing my orders about the delivery ofthose rations, a mes- senger came hurrying from nay house, A phone call had dome through to say that the water mains had been. damaged by enemy bombing, and I was instructed to make immediate arrangements for the village water supply, On advice circulated some time ago by the Regional Commis- sioner --the civil governor in an emergency—I had already prepared for this, I know exactly how many wells there are: which ones are fit for drinking and which are dangerous. So I sent my messengers back to the four districts with orders to house- holders to draw their water from certain wells—and not from others. But I know that country folk are conservative about drinking -water. Because their grandfathers drank from such and such a well, and ap- parently did not die from it, they see no reason wiry the water can do any harm now. They forget that wells can become contaminated in the course of time, so I have water - stewards who will emphasize the danger of disobeying orders about wells. Hard on the heels of this message came another. It was quite brief, and told me I must now assume all com- munication with the outside world to have been cut off. This did not mat- ter very much; what did matter was that I would be no longer in touch with the country town which is my report headquarters. In other words, I must rely entirely on the local commander of the Home Guard for any information that might be filter- ing through about the movements of the enemy. Back I went to my house to take some notes about the progress of events. At 12.30 p.m. I picked up a paper -knife and slit open the sealed envelope that had lain on my desk for twentw-four hours. Its contents were terse: "Final message, Enemy at your gates. Take necessary action." But what that meant is—for the present—an official secret. Sir Stafford Cripps on India's Problems A broadcast delivered July 26. I have always been a firm friend of India and done my best in the past to work for the freedom of Incite. When I joined the British war cabinet and found the Government anxious and willing to put forward a proposal for Indian self-government, I volunteered to travel 20,000 miles to India and back to put the case directly to Indian political leaders on behalf of the British Government and people. We offered to the Indian people complete liberty the moment the war was over to devise and set up their own form of government. We sug- gested the broad outlines of how they should proceed, but there was no rigidity in those suggestions and it was left open to the various re- ligions and races to agree on some other method. But to my regret they neither accepted nor put forward any agreed alternative. It was not this future arrangement, however, but the immediate situation which caused the Congress Party to reject the Proposals. Gandhi's Demands Meant Chaos We offered the representative Ind- ian political leaders immediate office in the Viceroy's Executive Council— a body of ministers like those who advise your President. Mr. Gandhi has demanded that we walk out of India leaving the country filled with deep-rooted religious divisions, with- out any constitutional form of gov- ernment or organized administration. No responsible government could take such a step, least of all in the midst of war. The Moslems, of whom there are at least 80,000,000, are deeply opposed to Congress Party domination, as are also the tens of millions of the depressed classes, To have agreed to the Congress Party's nor to Mr, Ganhi's demands would have meant inevitable chaos and dis- order. This is not merely my asser- tion. It has been stated by Mr. Gandhi himself, Quite recently he said: "Anarchy is the only way. Someone asked me if there would be anarchy after the British rule. Yes, it will be there. But I tell the Brit- ish, give us chaos," India is now an essential and vital part of the world front against the Axis powers, There are British, r THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1942 As a flight of bombers sailed over enemy territory on its way to the target of the day, a gunner poked his camera over the side and made this photograph of a Stirling bomber, surrounded by anti-aircraft gun -bursts. On every mass bombing raid—over Hambourg, Essen and all the other huge Nazi munitions centres -fighting fliers of 'the RCAF do their share in the work of drippling the enemy's munitions industry. There are British, American and Chinese forces, as' well as the Ind- ians fighting side by side, to defend India against Japan. If the obliga- tions of the British Government to their American and Chinese allies are observed, we must ensure that Indiaremains a safe base in and from which to operate against the Japanese enemy. We cannot allow conditions to be created by any poli- tical party leader in India which will jeopardize the safety of the United Nations' armies or air forces or throw the door open for the advance of our enemies into this new and dangerous theater of war. That is an obligation not only to the British and American forces in India—it is an obligation to the Ind- ian people themselves. That is why your country ,and mine find them- selves both intimately concerned with the condition of India at this moment, Your sons as well as ours are helping to defend India and to wage war against the Japanese. Your policy as well as ours is to defend India. But Gandhi and the Congress Party have other views. Mr. Gandhi I have always regarded with respect as a greatnationalist and religious leader. But I am bound to say that ii) the present circumstances he is not showing himself to be practical or realistic. Certainly the action he is now threatening—mass civil ,dis- obedience by his followers—is cal- culated to endanger both your war effort and our own and to bring the greatest aid and comfort to our com- mon enemies, Gandhi's views are not always easy to follow or consistent, but let me read two of his recent statements, "We do not want these allied troops for our defense or protection. If luck favors us, the Japanese may see no reason to hold the country after the allies have withdrawn." Chiva will hardly appreciate this. Again Gandhi has said: "American aid amounts in the end to American influence, if not to American rule, added to the British. If the British left India to her fate . . . probably the, Japanese would leave India, alone." These are solemn words, and what do all of them amount to? Mr. Gandhi is not prepared to wait. He would rather jeopardise the freedom and the whole cause of the United Nations. Ile threatens extremes mf pressure in this most difficult hour to win political power for his own party. There is not the slightest doubt that other large and powerful political parties in India are opposed to Mr. Gandhi's demands, 'Victory Must First Be Gained I regret profoundly that he has taken this attitude, and I know that the Indian people as a whole do not support him. He may gain a measure of support for his mass disobedience, but, for the sake of India as well as for the cause of the United Nations, it will be our duty to insist on keep- ing India as a safe and orderly base for our joint operations against the Japanese. Whatever steps are neces- sary to that end, we must take fear- lessly. Once victory is gained, India has been offered complete freedom to provide in whatever way she chooses for her own self-government. But that victory must first be gain- ed. We cannot allow the actions of a visionary, however distinguished in the .fight for freedom in the past, to thwart the United Nations' drive for victory in the east. The issue is too grave and too great for the Whole World. American, Chinese, Indian and Bri- tish soldiers must not be sacrificed in the gallant struggle for the liberty of the world by political party man- euvering in India or any other coun- try. It is the interest of India that is at stake, as well as that of China, Britain and the United States. I am sure that we in this country can rely on you to give us your understand, ing, your help and your support in do- ing whatever is necessary to main- tain intact the front of the United Nations in India and to reopen the lifeline of our gallant allies, the Chinese. "So your son is in college? How is he making it." "He isn't making it. I'm making it and he spending it" Boss (to applicant for job) :— "Aren't you the fellow we fired yes- terday?" "That's right," replied the job seeker. "In that case," queried the other, "why do you come in here looking for a job?" "Why not?" demanded the appli- cant. "I lost it here, didn't I?" LADIES , , . If You Could See YOURSELVES! Some timely advice about who should or shouldn't wear slacks, is given by Arthur "Bugs" Baer, one of America's best-known humorists, in The American Weekly with this Sun- day's (August 23) isue of The Detroit Sunday Times. Be sure to get Sun- day's Detroit Times. AUCTIONEER F. W. AHRENS, Licensed Auction• eer for Perth and Huron Counties Sales Solicited. Terms on Application. harm Stock, chattels and real estate nrope•ty. R. R. No. 4, Mitchell. Phone 634 r 6. Apply at this office. HAROLD JACKSON Licensed in Huron and Perth coun- ties. Prices reasonable; satisfaction guaranteed. For information, write or phone Harold Jackson, phone 14 on 661; R. R. 4, Seaforth. counter Check Books We Are Selling Quality Books Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily. AU styles, Carbon Leaf and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Next Order. The Seaforth News SEAFORTH, ONTARIO,