Evel. 1.
21
Statement made by the Colonial Secretary in the Legislative
Council on 29th June.1939.
When the Budget for 1939 was introduced last year
it was indicated that the exact measures to be taken in the
sphere of air raid precautions were still under consideration.
A full survey of the requirements was then being made and on its completion a programme covering the essential minimum was
submitted to the Secretary of State and his expert advisers.
2. The necessary measures include the provision of
sandbags for the protection of public buildings and
structural alterations to such buildings, the addition of
supplementary fire appliances and reserve medical stores and the acquisition of respirators for issue to essential services and of protective clothing and equipment for decontamination
squads. In addition it is proposed to make grants, on a
basis to be agreed, to assist public utility companies for
safeguarding essential services. Plans have also been
prepared for other measures, including the digging of trenches
which will not be actually put in hand until an emergency
arises.
3. After careful consideration the conclusion has been
reached that apart from the enormous expense entailed it is
not practicable to attempt any large scale schemes of
protection for the general public such as tunnels, steel
shelters and the like. Tunnels or other underground shelters
could of course be constructed but the configuration of the
land renders it impossible to place them so that access
could be gained to them from the centres of dense population
within the few minutes period of warning which is all that
can be expected. The existence of such shelters would
therefore be merely a temptation to people to leave the
relatively greater safety of their homes. It appears to be
certain that in most cases such fugitives would fail to reach
their objectives in time.
Householders are therefore
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