London, May 27.
The balloon barrage, most tangible evidence of Britain's' gigantic Air Raid Precautions service, was being made more formidable today in the face of the threatened German invasion of the British Isles, Britain doubled precautions to meet any German air menace today after two German "experimental raids" on south-eastern England over the week-end, Demolition squads dressed to meet gas, fre and chemicals meanwhile hacked their way through condemned buildings which had been dynamited to debris to simulate conditions after an air raid, First aid units and ambulance corps stood by to carry off the "dummy" victims, The number of balloons England has is a military secret, They cer-lainly number many thousands, Some days only a few are seen while at other times they crowd the horizon, They are mobile and are operated under a precise set of tactics, x That factories hummed this winter with their production was indicated by a new appeal for recruitts man them, The government particularly wants tailors, mattress makers, upholsterers, scarf folders and winch and hoist drivers, Not all A.R.P. workers are paid, It depends on their station, Areas which are considered vulnerable, with a dense population and have "targets" are classified as "A" and "B" and these have full time paid workers, The "C" and "D" zones depend almost entirely upón volunteers for auxiliary fire work, ambulance service and the various rescue services, From twelve great regions—Greater London, the nine counties, Scotland and Wales—the AJR.P, breaks down to its smalles unit—the air raid warden's post.
In London there are about a dozen of these posts to the square mile—manned day and night, In a raid they would report casualties and destruction to a "control room" from where the real work is directed United Press, London, May 27.
The Ministry of Economic Warfare announced that the Master of the Rolls, Sir Wilfred Greene, who has been' attending a meeting in Rome of the Anglo-Italian joint standing committee on matters relating to contraband control, was due to return to London last night.
Proposals made by the Italian authorities in this connection are considered by him as affording a very satisfactory basis for agreement. British. Italian representatives are engaged in working out details in Rome.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.