Submarine Inactivity A big reduction in Allied shipping tunk by (German submarines is a significant feature of the past few weeks' operations at sea, From arming totals in the earlier stages of the war before the British Navy obtained firm control, the losses last week were almost negligible and there were indications that the ceaseless watch jand guard of the British Navy and the relent-Hess hunt of what Mr. Winston Churchill, the First Lord terms. "these submarine menace. lwirtual impotency. A number of reasons. has Jocen adduced for this very satisfactory. situation. "The convoy system introduced" shortly later the outbreak of war and now developed to its fullest extent of protection makes submarine Jatiacks extremely difficult. While the individual land unprotected vessel is easy yama for the prowling German submarine commander, in Iwell-protected convoys the losses have been microscopic. 'The destruction of German submarines has been extremely' high. The British naval authorities have been reticent on this subeet through reasons of strategy but when an-Inouncements are made, similar to the London message of yesterday, that within 48 hours Jseveral submarines were attacked with favoin lable results, the depletion of the German submarine fleet can be readily understood. luelieved that the rate of destruction. Is ex= lccedingg the rate of building and. therefore a steady process of deterioration is weakening the German U-boat fleet and reducing its effective-Mess. "A suggestion has been made that the German naval authorities, faced with Inereasting losses which cannot be replaced by. existing building resources, may be preparing fora Jsrand sortie, utilizing all available vessels in some spectacular operation likely. to achieve Jresults "which would temporarily stimulate Ipopular enthusiasm in Germany to cover the big losses the submarine Meet has suffered. Against this suggestion, however, is the Import lant factor of personnel. It may take only months Ito build a submarine, but the training of crews lis a long process which defies any mechanical Ireckoning. Undoubtedly the morale of the German submarine personnel must be low. [Detection apparatus has been perfected to such la degree that only by the barest chance is quick destruction impossible. When squadrons go out land only one or two vessels return the' affect Jon the base personnel can easily be imagined, a suicide job, and the increasing striking lower of the British Navy emphasizes it, During the fast war, after control of the U-boat menace had been obtained and effectively de-Jmonstrated, one U-boat was found to be manned Jentirely by' officers who attempted 2 daring raid Jon Scapa Flow to heighten the morale of the Jmen to whom nemesis was inevitable inthe Jpresence of British warships waiting for them, Goebbelian Aroma Two further pieces of German propaganda appear to Ye going awry. Mr, Sumner Welles describes as fantastic nonsense German charges that he and M. Paul Reynaud discussed a French map purporting to whittle down the territory Jor the Reich, while neutral comment on the [White Paper. recently issued by the Reich is just lborgs-Posten™ "The German White Book las telling, Thus the Swedish newspaper "Gole-
melt of Goebbels a long way Off, and alms to make Mz. Roosevelt the man who is pushing Europe into the war." It ix more tha) Iikel that the German propaganda machine which apparently claims to have a monopoly of truth to the exclusion of all others—and that even [respite Herr Hitler's opinion on the necessity of tying. and lying large while about it being £0 ached itself jit has done' so frequently in past months and jas it did so regularly during the fast war. The Swedish journal remarks that German propaganda is more intensive now but no cleverer than then. If, as expected, the United The Bare Feet An observant render who has lived many years in Shanghai has communicated to this ce in this city, has he seen so many bare-footed rickshaw pullers on the streets as chanting basket, but the preceding. period was wet and cold aid the misery which Shanghai's humbl <¢ of labour must have suffered in it for a few cents per day to provide only the barest modicum of food to maintain Jexistence is something of which this wealthy oily ought to take cognisance. Rice at four times the price of a year ago, other foodstuits proportionately high, rents—if any rickshaw Mer could really alls—appallingly high and a bist increase in jekshaw rentals finding little compensation in the increased tariff authorized by the Municipal Council paint a black picture for the rickshaw puller. And while thy stomach must be provided for, the fet must go wushed. It may seem a lminor point to mention in Shanghai's concentrated existence where great wealth and great poverty rub shoulders, where the extravagance of night fife and amtisement demonstrated by China's aided youth form the contrasting background to the sufferings of the poor, but it would be worth while pausing and considering some scheme betterment. While the large proportion of Shanghai's salaried or waxe classes are Jdeavouring to adjust high cost of living conditions by resort to the economic and industrial resources of the city, here is a class basically Unstable, subject (0 the whims of weather, short~ fage of small money, rental demands and a dozen other ihe but capable of finding no remedy. It fg a social tragedy which will be wiped from the civie conscience only when the industry 1s, organized on amore humanitarian besis, or when, fo achieve the ideal, human beings' will no Honger be expected to play the part of domestic animals which are vanishing from this city much faster than the supply of manpower in the face of mechanical transportation. fact that' thet the German fie is so. quickly pounced upon ni corrected by the Allies, the each appear.
Jot making a more convinein people itis. endeavor elf. The thick-ski to believe that their methods must be best because they are German, and have the blessing Herr Hitler and the facile Dr. Goebbels, would indeed be tragic if it were not so amus ing. It is all the more so when & newspaper in nation continually menaced by German mit!
the courage to come out and state that the White Paper has a Goebbelian aroma, War-Time Air Services Representations made to Sir Kingsley Wood, [Secretary of State for Air, by the Civil Aviation of the London Chamber of Commerce, have licited the information that plans for the ce [invasion and expansion of British air services re not being neglected. On the conversion to pre-war frequency on some routes and the fulfilment of pre-war plans for other routes are on the Ministry's programme, Sir Kingsley told the delegation which called upon hin at the Air Ministry. The South Afri-Jean route will be restored to the pre-wat basis, fand the new roule to Lisbon is expected to start next month now that political objections have been removed. The trans-Atlantic service is stil uppermost in the Ministry's mind and therefore a service to South America may be a distant Ipossibility, but the North American route still enjoys priority. This is encouraging news for At reveals that the Ministry is fully alive to the Ineeessity of not only maintaining but expand-ling pre-war plans for widening the scope of operations of British air services, which now jeover large areas of the globe. Much time, tation had been spent on from Ireland to Newfoundiand. when the war started, and trials with developed types of aircraft specially designed for this service had proved the practical nature of stich a serves. Giant fying boats were making regular trips to Newfoundiond and thence to New York, and in performance and passenger necommodation—although pass sengers were not commercially carried—British machines were proved second-to-none in. set= vice across the Atlantic. The outbreak of war necessarily curtailed these activities for the diversion of efforts to more important purposes of national security. Now that aeroplane construction and the provision of an adequate air Meet are in an advanced stage of realization It is arnly reasonable that some attention should be paid to the British international air system which had reached such a state of competitive eMeieney before the war. It has been consistently pointed wut by British statesmen that in the titanic struggle ahead of the nations the necessity for maintaining the normal organization of overseas trade and industrial production is even more urgent than in peace-time for while the tnation's domestic resources are geared {0 the immensity of the task, Britain's essential life~ ines are the commercial contacts she maintains with the world. Among these are air communications and Britain cannot afford to permit neutral countries to gain ascendancy no matter how serious are the calls at home, Great pro-ress was made before the war in extending British air lines to the farthest corners of the lobe. In fact, Britain had built up the greatest system of international alr communications in the world and still there remained great. con Quests to be made. The assurances of Sir Kings ley Wood that this objective has not been swamped by war-time needs of another charac~ ter afford ample evidence that there will be no neglect in the consummation of the plans laid down and developed through years of peacetime enterprise. And one of the steps in the ight direction, already announced in this Journal, is the amalgamation of Imperial Alr= and British Airways into one single cor poration, the British Overseas Airways Corpora-Nion, which unites the Empire and friendly nations with the home country and touches 27 different countries, Dominions and colonies, The Governor Re-Elected A brief and inconspicuous cable, announces that Mr, Montagu Norman, for the 21st such sive year, has been re-elected Governor of the Bank' of England. It is a short matter-of-fact statement, much briefer than the announcement fof a cinema star's divorce, or the shooting down fof a Messerschméat raider by a British nero-plane, for public values" of information nowadays are strange and varied, But behind this statement is the assurance that one of th greatest ancial and economic experts in world is still_at the head of the great British ancial institution, and the Old Lady of Tread~ needle Street will' nod with approval of the fact that the nation's finances are in sound hands, Mr. Norman—or to give him his full name—the Rt, Hon, Montagu Collet Norman, p.8.0.—is shy and modest man as newspaper' standards Go. In pence-time he was varely mentioned Publicly and few photographs of him are in existence. His extreme reticence, amounting almost to shyness, has made him' one of the Toast known men in London although he is the City's dominant power. Since the war started, in spite of the tremendous financial manipulations which have had to be made to provide the sinews for the huge task on which Britain land her Allies have embarked, this reticence has been even more marked, Beyond the latest statement regarding his re-election it Is doubtful whether his name has ever been mentioned in print although Jess powerful gures, through fact and speech and projection of events, are on every. front page and on everybody's tongue. Mr. Norman comes from a long tine of bankers associated with the Bank of England which was established in 1004 and he guards the tradition ously, And while he is enyozed in the ia} campaign against the King's enemies, those who know of him only as a vague shadow, will be surprised to know that he also has a distinguished military record having served in the South African War with the 4th Battalion, The Bedfordshire Regiment, and in campaign he won the 8.0, and Was men> tioned In despatches.
Eire Hunger Strike The hunger strike of the members of the ish Republican. Army in the Dublin pelon ives some iden of the trouble. the government Gt" Hive To having in eating. with {hat logan organization, One of the raven prisoners SfneCurtiny accused of the murder of detec: tive in w stroot in Cork, who tonetber ith the ier men i claiming tit he should be treated sca "political prisoners It) by" treatment Potitieal prisoners. they claim that they should relieved of the Pains and: penalties of their trimer. I obviously means in the ense of Mace Eiurtin, that so long as he can allege that the frurder with which he se charged was tnepleed political' motives, he. should. ro. tree. The feantention is ridiculous one, and ware it nuted for 9 moment would inevitably Lead to outbreak "of favlesanese with, which the would have the greatest diMieuly" tu ting fat te thet these met aim on the gran that being memo Armiy they. are in bed as of the inter "oF wre adopting this means of evading so long az men are willing to seek postiuimous flory in such a manner the government of Eire ill continue to be faced with considers embarrassment. Were it to yield to the men demands at this juncture it would lose prestige to an enormous extent, as any government must Ido which fails to vindicate the laws for the administration of which It alone is responsible The outcome of the strike will be a anterest
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.