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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1941-04-03, Page 7MOBILE KITCHEN FROM ENGLAND TOURS U.S Thursday, April 3rd, 1941 “It was not alone a question of building — it was a matter of do­ ing everything in the shortest possible time.” A. mug of specially prepared English tea is enjoyed by Lord Halifai British ambassador to the United States on the embassy grounds 11 Washington, D.C. The tea was served from the “Iron Duke” vetera mobile tea kitchen from England now touring major U, S. cities. Th » “Duke,” bomb-scarred and bullet-riddled from its six months’ servie in the war, is now on furlough in the United States under auspices fl the British War Relief society. THE LIFE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL On October 11, 1899, Winston •Churchill sailed .from Southampton for South Africa to act as war correspond- -ent for a London newspaper. Just ov­ er a month later he was a prisoner in the hands of the Boers. He had joined an armoured train carrying British troops up to engage the enemy, but it was derailed in a cunningly-prepared Boer trap. Whilst helping to defend the train, Winston Churchill was challenged by a Boer horseman. He felt for his revolver but it wasn’t in its place! Capture was thus unavoidable. * * * FATE AGAIN,LENDS A HAND. There was an interesting sequel to this dramatic episode when, three years ‘later, party of Boer generals visited England to raise a loan. Winston Churchill met their leader, Gen. Botha, at a luncheon, and they discussed the war and their personal experiences/ ’ ‘ After Churchill had recounted the story of his capture and escape, Gen. Botha said: “Don’t you remember me, then? It was I who captured you!” He had not been a’general at that time. Thus the inscrutable ways of Prov­ idence were again demonstrated. Had Mr. Churchill not laid down ‘his re­ volver to aid in clearing the train wreckage, he might have shot Gen. Botha, or may have invited death for himself. As1 it was, Gen. Botha became ■ a firm friend of Great Britain’s and led a successful South African Army which destroyed all vestiges of Ger­ man influence in Africa during the last Great War. * $ * HID IN BALES-OF COTTON. ' Winston Churchill 'did not remain in internment longufor he seized an ear­ ly opportunity to outwit his guards and made a dramatic escape, passing within five yards of the sentry without being challenged! He was now ah out­ law in enemy territory with a price on his head. After stealing a ride in a freight train, he walked for miles until, weary and hungry, he came to a settlement, where he decided to call at ■ the first house he came to. Fate was again kind! It was the home of the only Englishman in the district!—a colliery manager.. Had he called at any other house he would have been recaptured. As it was he lived down the mine for several days before his new-found friend was able to .smuggle him among bales of cotton aboard a train bound for Portugese territory. * * * ANGERED HIS FRIENDS. Win­ ston Churchill became attached to Lord Roberts’ army and had the pleas­ ure of being in at the fall of Pretoria, the scene of his internment. With the Boer capitulation, Church­ ill became a staunch supporter of an enlightened policy towards the con­ quered people.' His articles in which he pleaded for forgiveness for the Boers aroused widespread criticism and angered many of his friends. It is one of the most remarkable facets of this many-sided man that, while he is a dauntless and relentless foe in a fight, once the smoke of bat­ tle has cleared away he can plead for goodwill and friendliness for former enemies, He was once asked to suggest an in­ scription for a monument in France, and this is what he wrote: “In war, Resolution. In Defeat, Defiance. In victory, Magnanimity. In peace, Goodwill.” The,French did not accept his sug­ gestion! t WINGHAM ADVANCE-TIMES BUILDING OUR AERODROMES YOUR EYES NEED ATTENTION Our 25 Point Scientific Examin­ ation enables Us to give you Clear, Comfortable Vision F. F. HOMUTH Optometrist Phone 118 Harriston 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 arty retail factory m Ontario. All finished by sand blast machines. We import all our granites from the Old Country quarries direct, m the rough. You can save all local deal- ers\ agents* and middleman profits by teeing us. E. J* Skelton & Son Mt West End Bridge-—WALKERTON * As H. McTAVlSH, B»A> Teeswater, Ontario ‘ Barrister,’ Solicitor, Notary Public and Conveyancer Office: Gofton House, Wroxetet every Thursday afternoon 1.80 to 4.30 and by appointment. Phone *** Teeswater 120 J. ■mmi ,■» In i IT! Iii-.nwi I I' r 1 ~mr iiiinM** * * * START OF POLITICAL CAR­ EER. Winston Churchill arrived back in England to find himself a popular hero. Young, daring, impulsive, ' he was received with cheers wherever he went, and it is small wonder that the people of Oldham, Lane., received him with open arms when he contest­ ed that seat as a Conservative in the General. Election of 1900, despite hav­ ing already rejected him two years earlier. Winston Churchill was never a sup­ pliant politician, content to follow the orders of the party whip. In his maid­ en speech in the House of Commons, this .red-headed youth of 26 outraged the members of his ’party when he de­ clared: “If I Were a Boer, I hope I should be fighting in the field.” And before the end of his first session, he vigorously opposed _ the Government’s chief measure, the ill-fated scheme of army reorgnaization, and was the only Conservative to vote against it. In 1902 he went on a lecture tour of America and Canada, and there is a prophetic touch to the announcement of his lecture in Montreal that Fall, which said: “Winston Churchill, the future Premier of Great Britain, will lecture on his South African experi­ ences.” Flow little they know then un­ der what circumstances he would be­ come Premier of Great Britain! ***Noxt week’s article tells of Mr. Churchill's break with his party, and of his becoming a Cabinet Minister in a Liberal Government, (Copyright Reserved). Troubles# like btrnanas, often come itt bunches. 1 ’ Building air fields and aerodromes seems like a simple task — something any one could do if he had the re­ quisite training. But things are not always what they seem. It will be re­ called tiiat Christian in Pilgrim’s Pro­ gress found lions in the way — there were lions in the way in this task, The greatest of these was time — or rath-' er, the lack of it. The original prog­ ram called for 64 schools for which aerodromes had to be completed by June 30th, 1942. Sixty-fiVe have now been completed and ten carried over for work in the following spring, When it is possible to lay out the plans for a job and then telescope a year out of what was, from the start, a condensed timetable, then those who planned the work and the contractors who carried it out are entitled to the fullest measure of credit. Preliminary reports were first made of possible sites. An Inspector and an engineer of the Department of Trans­ port, together with an Air Force Of­ ficer, then decided on the locations and detailed surveys were made. Ap­ proaches to an aerodrome must ibe free from obstructions; it must be easy of access by road and rail and close to centers of population; it must have ample water and power supply and as runways must be built, it is essential that good road-building material should be available. These are only preliminary requisites—when it comes down to the real task, many things 1 can happen. When all these things are adequate in one particular location, then we have an ideal situation. When one or more of these is absent, then it be- ' comes the work of the engineers and those directing the effort to overcome the difficulties. Coupled with this, there is always the factor of speed, more speed arid still more. For the Hun was hammering at the gates when actual work starred and the word went out that this work had to be done — and it must be' done quickly, for a de> mocracy in wartime is always in a hur­ ry — there was no time to lose. Forest and Plain • Consider two ports close 'together, Goderich and Port Albert — they are only ten miles apart, Goderich stands on a high level overlooking Lake Hur­ on and the Maitland River. It was an ideal site. It had been used as a local field before it was taken over by the government but it was too small for the purpose so they took in 82 acres of bush, cleared'the land and added to the area. Most people in older On­ tario now, knpw nothing of clearing land . This was not heavy timber, such as Western Ontario knew in the old days, but the contractor took 3,000 cords of wood off it so it was fairly well timbered. By the old method of clearing which turned Western On­ tario forests into fields and gardens, it would have taken at least seven years to eliminate the stumps on an area of that kind and make it suitable for the operation of farm machinery. They knew no 'better method than slashing, pasturing, burning and digg­ ing out stumps by manual labor. It was turned into an air field, cleared, free from obstructions, ready for work in fifty ’days, and that is mighty fast work in any man’s country! In Port Albert the scene was differ­ ent. The crops were taken off these farms in July just before work was started. The whole port, with 29 buildings, including hangars, mess rooms, dormitories, hospital and other buildings, was practically completed by the 31st of October. Last July it was a farm, now it is a village—mod­ ern buildings, sewers, electricity, all modern. conveniences. All this was done ‘despite the handicap of wet wea­ ther such as Huron County has rarely seen. thousand, working as they did in pion­ eer days, Concentrated man-power, sufficient to do the work in the time given, would perhaps have been impos­ sible in the old days—but it would not have been necessary-—the Hitlers of a hundred years ago were slower on the trigger. Perhaps, too, if the engineers of the Pharaohs, the boys who built the pyramids, could look down upon that scene at Pennficld, they would say — “magnificent work but think of what we accomplished without your equipment.” In their day, time was not the essence of the agreement. In the completion of that field there was 200,000 cubic yards of ordinary excavation. Almost 10,000 cubic yards of excavation '.for open ditches, Ap­ proximately 4 miles of pipe drain with stone backfill,. 1,500 feet of drain with common backfill, carrying a pipe up to 10", 15" and 18". Add to this 155,- 000 square yards of grading for the runways’ construction; 43,000 tons of crushed gravel and the ordinary task of seeding, fencing, smoothing and rolling, and when all these are meas­ ured, we have only gone part way in the task of making an airport —» there is still much to be done. Drainage Is Essential The problem - of drainage presents its difficulties. There is one air field in Canada, level as a billiard table — but how could you drain a billiard table if it covered three or four thous­ and acres? Remember, the main task of engineers is to overcome difficult­ ies, and they do that very thing. They ran a ditch around this field. It was 2 feet deep at the starting point and 10 feet deep where the two met at the other side of the field and from there, they carried it on 'til it found its way into a creek — an eight foot fall in a mile will carry a lot of water. So they had drained the billiard table and drained it successfully. Theoretically there was no fall to the land —• they made an artificial one — it served the purpose. Surface runways must be built in a way which will prevent buckling in the spring when the frost comes out of the ground. This involves thorough draining along the runways with stone backfill — solid foundations and hard surfaces. Proper seeding is not a par­ ticularly difficult problem in eastern Canada and certainly not in British Columbia. In the west, it is normally more difficult to secure a catch of grass seed but to a certain extent, this has been overcome by that most amaz­ ing "dry land grass — Crested Wheat Grass. It is a product of the arid soil of Mongolia and has been successfully introduced into Western Canada. In suitable soil, its roots penetrate from six to eight feet into the ground in search of moisture and spread out in­ to an amazing array of secondary and tertiary root structure. It is this which will.form the sod for the air fields of the west. There will be no drifting soil when once this grass is firmly established. . Someone remarked not long ago that a democracy in wartime, is always in a hurry. It is perhaps eminently fitting that this should be so for a de­ mocracy starts war with an initial dis­ advantage. It cannot prepare in ad­ vance, after the fashion of the totali­ tarian powers — but in the United Kingdom now, they are fighting and winning against the Axis and in 1941, when the men we are now training in Canadian air fields' are rqady for the * Invents “Cluster” Bomb SUBSCRIBE NOW TO YOUR favourite magazines and THIS NEWSPAPER ATA • 1. I Eg These offers are good for new or renewal orders. It will pay you to look them over and send us the coupon today, ------ ------------------ALL-FAMILY OFFER------------------------- This Newspaper, 1 Year, and Your Choice Any Three of These Publications CHECK THREE MAGAZINES—ENCLOSE WITH ORDER £ ] Maclaaa's Magazine, 1 yr. [ ] Chatelaine, 1 yj. [] Canadian Home Journal, 1 yr, £ J National Home Monthly, 1 yr. £ ] Canadian Horticulture. and Home, 1 yr. £1 £] £1 £1 Rod and Gun. 1 yr, American Fruit Grower, 1 yr. Canada Poultry Review, 1 yr. American Giri, 8 mos. [ ] American Boy, 6 mos. ALL FOUR ONLY 3.00 n ci • ci ci £1 £1 fl £1 £1 £1 £1 ------------------SUPER-VALUE OFFER—“ This Newspaper, 1 Year, and Your Choice of ONE Magazine in Group A and TWO Magazines in Group B MARK AN “X” BEFORE THE MAGAZINES YOU DESIRE GROUP “A” Magazine Digest, S mol. True Story, 1 yr. Silver Screen, 1 yr. Christian Herald, 6 mos. Fact Digest, 1 yr. Science and Discovery, 1 yr. McCall’s Magazine, 1 yr. 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Magazine Digest, 1 yr.. >.7* American Boy, 1 yr,...«••**••••• Lit American Girl, 1 yr,................ 1.5t Child Life, 1 yr..'..............»••••.. >>50 American Magazine, 1 yr.. ..••••. 1.7# Screenland, 1 yr...................... >00 Christian Herald, 1 yr.. >J5 Cl [1 £] fl f] [] [] [1 £ J [] [] f] [] >3.50 . 3.50 , 3.50 . 3.50 . 3.00 , 3.71 , 1TI > >.7» FILL OUT COUPON MAIL TODAY Ptease clip list ot magazines alter checking ones desired. Fill out coupon carefully and mall to your local paper. Gentlemen: 1 «nctos« I ........................ I am checking toelow th* otter desired with a year’s subscription to your paper. I I AU-ramllv I I Super-Value I 1 Singl. Magazine Kame Province conflict, we shall have to our credit a record of achievement worthy of the effort that has been made. RED CROSS GETS ANOTHER CALL Supplies for Britain Urgently Required Real Forests Almost every port provides its own particular difficulties. Down in Pcnn- field New-' Brunswick, there was a good field available but it was in for­ est—this was a real, old-fashioned for­ est—it had to be stumped, grubbed— that means digging out the roots, if you are not old enough to know the word—and cleared. 350 acres of it was heavy with standing trees and there were scattered trees over another 100 acres. Consider the simple matter of removing a single tree by the old me­ thod, then consider the problem that faced the contractor in a test of this kind. The plans were approved on Au­ gust 7th last; tenders Were called on the 16th; contracts let on the 26th. The original plan called for complet­ ion on- April 1941-—it is practically ready now. Wouldn't it be interesting if we could measure the units of hum­ an energy which would have been re­ quired in the old days to clear an area of heavy forest land and turn it into ap airfield, then examine what blast­ ing powder and modern machinery can do. It may be that one man now can do the work of a thousand or ten ..jar-; L , rt;. Count Edward R. Raczynski, Polish Ambassador in London has sent the Canadian Red Cross Society an ex­ pression of gratitude for the help giv­ en by the Society overseas in supply­ ing woollen comforts and hospital sup­ plies to the Polish hospital and Polish troops in England. Count Raczynski’s message delivered to Major C. A. Scott overseas commissioner, says: “It is with very deep gratitude that I learn of this generous assistance and I am certain that our people will be greatly indebted to the Canadian Red Cross Society for such kindness. May I ask you to convey on behalf of my fellow countrymen and myself our very warm thanks to the Canadian Red Cross So­ ciety for their most benevolent action.” In the past 70 days, the Red Cross in England has released such stagger­ ing quantities of woollen comforts, re­ lief clothing and surgical supplies that the Overseas office has stated that fur­ ther shipments “in as large quantities as possible” will be urgently required. To refugee committees alone, includ­ ing the Polish, and the Women’s Vol­ untary Services have been given since January 376,055 woollen comforts and 225,666 articles of relief clothing, Blankets, quilts and relief clothing are needed immediately, Major Scott has cabled and further supplies will • be wanted shortly of socks, sweaters, scarves, helmets, gloves, mitts, pyjam­ as, bed jackets, dressing gowns, T bandages and wash cloths. To date the Canadian Red_ Cross has devoted $2,000,000 to the relief of bomb vic­ tims In England. raked off. If a mulch of manure was used in fall, the fine part of the mat­ erial can be dug in to add humus to the soil. At this time an application of a commercial fertilizer with the formula 4-8-10 can be scattered on the surface and dug in, advises Miss Isa­ bella Preston, Division of Horticult­ ure, Central Experimental Farm, Ot­ tawa. Any broken or damaged branches should be removed from shrubs and trees, being careful to make a clean cut and not to leave Ugly stubs on the trees. Late blooming shrubs like Hydrangea can be pruned at this time. In the rose garden it is a mistake to remove the protecting material all at once. If boards (or brush) were laid over the mulch they should be re- moved first and a fork thrust into the straw or leaves in order to lift them a little so that air can get in. In a week or so if the weather is suitable the top layer of straw can be removed and the remainder taken off gradually. If the nights are very cold and the days dry and sunny the mound of earth should be left over the lower part of the rose bush until the soil is beginning to warm up and the roots are waking up from the winter sleep. The dry winds and hot sun frequently damage the stems by drying before the roots are sufficiently active to sup­ ply the moisture necessary to keep them in good condition. Man is woman’s last domestic ani­ mal.—Will Durrant. AUSSIE PREMIER ON BATTLE SCENE A model of his “cluster" air bomb, together with blueprints and plans, is .being sent to Washington by Jacob Baker, shown ABOVE!, In­ ventor of the missile. Baker says the cluster of six smaller bombs are released from the larger bomb at predetermined heights, creating Wider-spread damage and causing a more effective hit on the target. Baker is shown ABOVE, posed with s’ one-quarter size model of his bomb CLEANING UP THE FLOWER GARDEN r (Experimental Farms News) As soon as the snow has melted and the ground is beginning to dry, work can start in the garden. If the tops of the perennials were not cut off in fall they’should be removed now and any branches or other trash that has col* lected on the- beds should be carefully R. G. Menzies, RIGHT, Australian premier, congratulates a member of the Australian Imperial force? at Benghazi Libya, during his tour 61 the Middle Bast, Benghazi was One b£ the points Captured by the Brit* Ish fa their sweep that gave them conttol of this entire northeastern '“ShtlAh ....................................... ip- -.-.. ........