A.R.P. in the Country In the country there seems to
be no lack of volunteers for Air Raids Precaution service, but there is a phlegmatic acceptance of things that is almost indifference. Recently I spent an hour giving an audience of villagers, as reticently and clearly as possible, the details of the duties expected of us, supplementing them with some details of Guernica, quoting the correspondent of The Times. At the close of the meeting there seemed, I thought, to be less enthusiasm than when it began. There were volunteers, but I did not notice a throwing-up of hats. Perhaps I myself was to blame. Where previous speakers had emphasised the great need for gas-masks, I deplored the emphasis on the danger of gas and the lack of emphasis on the danger of fire. If
Guernica could be wiped out by incendiary bombs in three or four hours, gas not being used, a village of 25o inhabitants might be in flames in less time than it takes to draw a quart. Very few villages possess a fire-brigade ; many no fire apparatus at all. In some cases the local Mansion has its hose and hose-cart and its own adequate supply of extinguishers. But the great need in villages is clearly public fire apparatus, simple, efficient and handily placed in some public spot where its existence is known to everyone.
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