Sir Walter Salter pointed out that while the reduction of less than 3 per cent. in British tonnage was not in Itself serious, other factors had to be considered. For instance, ships carried fess in a given time under war con Porto Marghera dockyards, petroleum works and a factory were objected to a heavy attack from a low altitude, so low that smoke from refinery building got into one of the attacking planes.
"Padua aerodrome was also attacked such as fitting guns. Many ships needed to carry troops or supplies to serve og armed cruisers. Moreover, in peacetime one thied of our imports came in foreign ships while now American ships, for instance, came to Britain no longer. by a bomber fying across the aerodrome at a height of 200 feet.
"At Pas de Calais aerodromes, military installations, and patrol vessels were attacked in daylight by bombers escorted by over 100 fighters.
"Aircraft on the ground at Gumes La [Plage acrodrome. were machine-[gunned from ground level by a Polish "We are doing all in our power fo meet the situation," Sir Walter said. "We are ruthlessly sacrificing foreign trade, and we are building, buying and chartering all. we can, bout the enemy, too, is active. If we have the. prospect of adequate replacement some time ahead and ca assistance in bridging the in-larval, we can be confident about the future.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.