London, Feb. 15.
"We are ceaselessly engaged with plans for putting into execution defensive measures and countermeasures, and these can only be judged by results," declared Mr. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, in the House of Commons last night.
He made this statement in answer to a question whether adequate measures had been taken for the defence of trawlers and fishing-boats.
Mr. Churchill added that he hoped a very great measure of protection would be afforded to men working in the North Sea in a very short time.
Naturally, he added, attacks on unarmed and small vessels could not have been expected, but now it appeared that every small vessel must be effectively armed to resist these murderous attacks.
Asked how five German merchant vessels, now loading cargoes in Rotterdam, had managed to escape detection, Mr, Churchill said that although this information was not in accordance with his own information, the House would be aware that the coastline of Holland and Germany were contiguous.
Questioned on whether he was satisfied that the naval patrol was being efficiently carried out, Mr. Churchill replied that he thought no-one would expect them to maintain a close patrol or close blockade off the German coast, having regard to the enormous development of aircraft since the last war.—Reuter.
H.M.S. Repulse Docks
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.