sial efforts are being made by the Stn den of the British Voluntary War Contributions Fund to secure the necessary amount, roughly about £10,000, to ensure that on' August 15 they will be able to send home sufficient money to bring the contribu-lion of Britons in China for the supply of aeroplanes up to £200,000. That will mean the creation of a second China British Squadron. Mr. Churchill, in epigramatic phrase, has stated the enormous debt which the British Empire owes to those gallant young men of the R.A.F. who won the battle Xf Britain last year, making it possible in Britain's darkest hour to have confidence in the ultimate outcome of this titanic struggle. Not all British subjects are as eloquent as is the Prime Minister, but, if words fail them in expressing their gratitude to that splendid force of airmen, there is something else which talks, and that is money. It must be made to talk freely now.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. R. G. Menzies, has declared that the prospect of a major German attack against Britain in 1941 has probably gone, and that "we are entering a phase in which we will begin to end the war." He added that "sacrifice and a great national effort are still needed." Those comforting words and the added warning should be remembered by all. The time has not yet come to sit back with folded hands in complacency over results achieved. Greater deeds than those which have already been done have got to be performed. The men, women and.children of Great Britain have, perhaps, still to make greater sacrifices, far exceeding anything which Britons in China can expect to have to make. All that so many of the latter can do is to provide money. There are many who have followed the advice of H. M. Ambassador last year and have subjected themselves to a form of voluntary taxation. The result has been good but not good enough. There are still many who have not yet responded to that appeal in the way they should.
That is an issue which lies between themselves and their consciences, but surely there can really be few who can remain deaf to the appeals which are continually made to them, reinforced by the splendid record which men fighting in the air have established in the defence of their fellows. One has to think not only of the men, who, throughout the anxious weeks of the Battle of Britain, averted a shattering defeat, but also of those who day after day, night after night, have been destroying the enemy's invasion bases along the English Channel and the North Sea, and who have been carrying this war home to the Germans in a manner which they have never experienced before. These men freely give of their lives, or, what is perhaps pire, in defence of that freedom which is democracy. And in the light of that fact is it possible that there are consciences so dulled as not to insist upon their owners going all out in monetary support of the cause?
If there are, and mere words tan reach them, now is the time for amendment. Now is the opportunity to remedy the sins of omission during the past year, and, by coming forward now, ensure that Britain Shall have her second squadron of fighters Írom.the Britons of China against the great time which is coming when the tide of the struggle shall have turned, and the R.A.F. commence to lead the whole of the imperial strength to that victory without which all the money which may be withheld from their support will be as nothing. Money given now to the British Voluntary War Contributions Fund is in fact a good investment. It will return no interest, but the preservation of the Empire, the liberation of the overrun nations from bondage, the establishment of the rule of law again in the world, and the destruction of tyranny are surely adequate profit; What better return can there possibly be than the knowledge that posterity shall be freed from the recurrent menace of German ambitions? What could be richer than the knowledge that the children of this generation shall be enabled to live out their lives in the peace and security which has been denied their fathers and mothers and those preceding them? The answer is obvious. Have you satisfied your conscience that you are doing your utmost to pay the price for it? If you have not the opportunity is right here for you to do the proper thing, and send your contributions to support the RAF, in the noble work it is doing,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.