The Thetis Enquiry One of the opening features of the British board of enquiry into the loss of the submarine hells "van the Slowing testimony of, Cape H.'P. H, Emm, one of the. fou survivors, fof the. tragedy. to" the "callantsy of the Iimpritoned crew, He spoke of the songiroid of the crew, and others numbering ppreximately To0'inem, inthe face of stark Geath, them be left to test the escape apparatus and sk deowning Sri order that the rest may know heir choness of escape. "He saw no panic time and all the men "showed quiet bravery ihe, memory of which, will forever, live with Me' he cai, going. on' to recount how the Crew and other* men on board joked to. while Sway the dime until the foul art caused them io'be quiet. Readers wil remember that similar orles were fold of the men who were trapped inthe Poreldon. Kt doer not appear in. the evidence at present to nand, but it seems "indicated that one of the reasons wit scape. from the hatchway was rendered "iful vas becase of the angle at which the vessel vas lying to the bea ofthe ocean ni t events aly soiled down on an almost even Kee), when, course it wns obviously too late forthe men Imprisoned to, help themselves. There, can beno' doubt that Capt, Oram, and Lieut F. Woods acted with the greatest gallantry, and the fact that more could not be. dono to cave Inore'of eis Yellows. in no way eects upon them. "the whole story of the conduct of the tron within the submarine Ie of @ piece. with British tradition. "They were, according to the
ven early after. the fatal submersion, and Witness, experiencing diet in breathing an" only be hoped that their suffering, Weless ssi proved torbe, did not ast too Tonge Brobable that the enguiry wil last very cone Hierable time, and will not end: unt all pose fislity "of uising_ tne. Thetis as been ex: Fausted, Active preparations were being mode, According to the latest mall, m order to. make Snendeavour to tift her about this Ume, and ihe nek of nows suggests that carly forecasts the aimieulton to be encountered have proved be iru, Novel Invitation The announcement made in the House of Commons on Monday by Mr, R.A. Butler, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to the effect that Great Britain would be prepared to allow Germany, and Ttaly time on the British Broadcasting Company's programmes in exchange for time for Great Britain on their networks isan interesting' one, but it isan Invitation which is not likely to be accepted. The idea of a propaganda war being carried {into each other's countries, by conient, seems very attractive from one point of view, but not particularly £0 from another. With the principle {hat the more the people of the various nations fare acquainted with the ideals, and aspirations of the others the better there must be agreement. "There cannot be anything else, But there are many who support the view that the issues at present Falsed in Europe, are not so much because of the desires of the masses, so far as the Dictator alates ave concerned, but are the results of person! ambitions. it docs not matter how curnestly it Is contended that the peoples of Germany, and Moly are solidly behind their Headers; the fact remains that last September when the German, and Italian peoples realized how close' they were the verge of war, there was every expression of satisfaction that, Mr. Chamberlain had been able to avert it. For the time being ut any rate he became the biggest gute in the innaginations of the masses in Burope, and there that fact to be discovered corroboration of the' view that ne matter how willing their leaders may be to plunge them into, warfare, the same enthusiasm does not prevail in the breasts of the men who would have to do the fighting. But propaganda by consent is mot Likely to come about. Only recently British Labour broadeast_an appeal to German, and Mahan Labour, by means of certain ' subterranean stations, to keep out of war. That hasbeen resented most keenly on the Continent, for it is quite obvious that it is not in Keeping with the ideas of either of the Dictators that the peoples should be able to talk too in~ imately with euch other. Much underground Information is circulated' in the totalitarian countries to their rulers' discontent, but to have such brenderist openly, and by consent, {fs something more that the inventors of that form of government could be expected readily pol to stomach, Mr. Butler's offer is an interesting, tone, but It'would be more than a little surpris~ {ng if the people to whom it is addressed were {o avail themselves of It Credits For Allies The promptness with which the Bill was Introduced into the Commons followin first indications of the British Government's pian to end "from °£10.000,000 to £60,000,000 to her now allies that they might rearm against pose sible" aggression, Is reassuring proof of the steady development and procress in the cnorm= ous. defence" programme. Loans to. Poland, Tumania, Turkey and Greece whom Britain has guaranteed, will enable ese countries to be equipped with British arms and stand in readiness (0 do their part. The magnitude of the Scheme follows naturally Upon the vast sums Britain "herself is spending "upon her own defence needs. Both the War Minister, Mr. Lestie Here-Belisha, and the Secretary for Ait, Sir Kingsley Wood, declared at the time when apparent. delays brought criticism their Departments, that a major diflieulty was to decide on designs, so swiftly were improve ments being offered. These in many instances have been arbitrarily fixed, and the stocks of finished materiale, and weapons are mounting, higher daily, but in proportion to what British skill and engineering' science makes possible, 'a§ Well as competition abroad, these stocks are
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.