It cannot be denied that a great deal of damage has been done. The West End has latterly been getting it as badly as the East ~Bond Street, Bruton Street, Berkeley Square, Regent and Oxford Streeis, Hertford House, the home of the Wallace collection; and in the central district, the Record Office, the beautiful tower of the Inner Temple hall and library. The damage varies from sheer destruction to only windows broken. But what one would emphasize is that so far from breaking our spirit Hitler has only sticeeeded in welding us the more closely together. So that there is no more an East End and a West, but we are all just Londoners, united in'one danger and one determination, And it is surprising how quickly we adapt. ourselves and how soon damage is repaired or circumvented. For example, in the first bombings several gas mains were cut and for three or four days City restaurants served cold luncheons, But very soon the usual hot dishes were again on the menus. You have possibly heard Lord Woolton's (the Food Controller) assurance that the total loss to, our food supplies is no more than a single day's requirements of one commodity, I wish you could sce the windows of the popular teashops, as full of -every variety of cake and bread as if there were no such thing.
The disposal of the many whose houses have been wrecked has been a problem, Now. they are being accommodated in the numer ous huge amply houses in the West End. The Duke of Westminster has lent several of his, houses to the Westminster City Council. It is yo marked that East Enders do not appreciate the twin beds now so usual at the other end of London. Otherwise they ave fitting In very happily.
Refuges at night ave another problem. Sir: John Anderson adheres to the brick and con crete surface shelters which can be built comparatively quickly. Some of the papers ceaselessly clamour for deep-dug_ shelters. Certainly they are the best. But the length time it would take to aig them isa decided drawback.
Meanwhile thousands solve the matter for themselves by camping on the platforms and in the corridors of the tubes. When T leave London at about 5 o'clock, early-comers have already staked out their' claims with rugs, pillows and baskets of refreshments. After some debate the Transport Board decided that they might stay where they were so long as they did not interfere with passengers. And this the campers are very careful not to do nor do the passengers grudge them their space, London's famous food temper: was never better shown than in these trying days, In the day we pay tess and less attention to the warnings. Unless a fight comes dangerously near work tends to sto on unin torvuptedly. This is not the case with all, however. The Post Oflice has been much criticized for shutting up all its offices dircet~ ly a warning sounds and not reopening unfit the "all clear." Some Government. departments have been doing the same. Telephones too tend to go out of action. Postal delays have been most annoying. An important etter of mine took four days to travel a distance of 20 miles. The Post Office's exeuige ix that so much of their work is done in sorting rooms with glass roofs. This docs not, however, apply to the ordinary branch office, It is now announced that the latter will henceforward do as most businesses do, id treat the warning as an alert, not as an injunction fo strike work.
Nothing, perhaps in all the war has quite so thrilled us as the extraction of the time bomb from in front of St, Paul's and Lieut.
Robert Davies's wild drive with it on a lorry to the Hackney Marshes. Davies, who is a man of 40, is a Cornishman, born at Newlyn, He went to Canada at. 11, came back with the Canadian forces in the Jast war, returned to Canada but came home six years ago and has since been in business at Plymouth as a motor engineering fuetor. He joined the reserve of. officers some time age, was called up last February four months ayo transferred to the Bom Disposal unit, He has always had the name for being a dare-devil.
But surely nothing could equal the cold, courage of the men who spend thei res in digging up time-bombs, never know. ing at what hour they have been timed to off. One officer, Lieut. E. F. Talbot, fiagnosing that a bomb which nis men had int to the surface after twelve hours' new type, ordered every: cay and then carried it on his to a safe spot.
For this he as justly decorated Apropos of the bom at St. Pa ay surely be said for senior canon. AM the time that the bomb teas in the ground he stood by, steer ing in the crypt within 20 fi, of the bomb. it exploded. he must have been ed, and the whale st fron probably have been destroyed. That wae the uppermost thought in his mind and he stayed by hie cathedral accordingly, an act of bravery that deserves to be remembered. When all was safely' over, his first act was to take the bombiggers off and stand drinks all round.
If London has suffered, what of Germany? Let this show. Recently the official German wireless broadcast to all Germans telling! them that if their houses were sct on fire by British bombs, they must do what they could fo put out the flames: they must not try to call in the firemen, as "they are already' busy handling bigger fires."" And Goering had assured the Germans that no foreign bomb would ever drop on the sacred soil of Germany!
Of the raiders themselves the best recent story is of a bomber which dropped a line of bombs across an East Anglian field, and was then shot down. All the four Germans in it Ianded safely and were taken prisoner. Brought before the O. C. one who could speak English congratulated him in a jaunty man. ner on his shooting: "Very fine work," said the German, "Thank you," returned the officer.
"And now," said the German, "May we have some biscuits and tea?"
On the contrary," said the. C. "You're going {0 work like hell. And until you're taken away you can pass the time by filling up the holes you've made in our field. Here are your shovels."
Gen. Catroux, ex-Governor of Indo-China, has arrived in' London to join General de Gaulle, In an interview with the "Daily Herald" he said that he had repudiated the policy of Vichy for the simple reason that it could only lead to the final downfall of France. In Indo-China at least 90 per cent, of the population were definitely in favour of continuing the struggle on Britain's side. It was only the danger of international complications "which prevented Gen. Catroux from proclaiming rebellion against Vichy.
Gen. Catroux, who is now 61, has hada most distinguished career both as soldier and colonial administrator under such men as Lyautey and Charles Dutaud in Morocco and Algiers and under Weygand in Syria. He was largely responsible for the pacification of the wild tribes of the Auas after the Rift campaign. That terrible but incomparably efficient man, M. Mandel, when Minister of the Colonies, sent Catroux to Indo-China in 1939 with orders to slond firm against Japanese expansion and Catroux reorganized the forces of the colony and brought them to a high efficiency. He is a handsome, distinguished-looking man with Tony nose and heavy eyebrows. But his face wears a look of melancholy, which is hardly surprising.
Sir Denison Ross, whose death at Constantinople took place recently was the sort of character whom R. L. Stevenson might well have drawn. Short and stout, with Targe curved nose, twinkling eyes anda sort roguish expression, he did not give the slightest indication of the enormous learning he had amassed, He loved to dine out, knew everybody in London, was a witty conver nationalist, a bow virent who knew as much about good wine ax any professional expert, and an excellent after-dinner speaker. He was believed fo be familiar with 43 Tanguages and spoke fourteen fluently, including Portugal. Hix list Maneht. T suppose the number of foreigners who have even a worl these two tongues could any time be reckoned in tens.
He was for- over 20 years chairman of the China Society and was largely responsible, with the Ambassador, Dr. Quo Tai-chi, for raising it to the prominence that it had acquired before the war. Withal, Sir Denison was the best of good fellows. Tt seems peculiarly unfair that after his wide ramblings in Asia and profound studies of her art and literature, it should be an Asiastic disease that ultimately brought him down.
Anybody who can get out of London and has no duties fo keep him there can scarcely be blamed for leaving. The result is that hhoteis and lodgings all up the Thames valley are full to the lid. Dr. Chen, Chancellor of the Chinese Embassy, who lives at Richmond, told mo that he went hunting for accommodation for his family round Maidenhead, Cookham, Marlow and Henley. Hotel and Todging-Keepers did not wait to hear what had to say. They merely shook their! heads, exclaiming briefly, "Full up.
The Ambassador sluck to the Embassy until quite recently when he has been sleeping with friends at Sunningdale. But every.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.