Anti-Air Raid Precautions The statement criticising the Government's' 'air raid
precautions, issued over the signatures of Lord Russell and a distinguished list of scientists and university professors, suffers from a defect not uncommon 'in round-- robins of this kind.. When you look into it, you will see that the statements are so qualified and balanced that they scarcely commit the signatories to quite such a crude view as the manifesto can be used to convey to the public. But that is the view which matters ; and it is, that the Government are wrong to take any steps towards instruct- ing and equipping the population to defend themselves against air attacks. ,Instead, it should, the suggestion is, be their sole aim to get air bombing abolished by agreement. That this should be the first aim, most of us will heartily agree ; but to make it the sole- one is like saying that a vessel should be seaworthy, but should carry no boats. Incidentally the manifesto -talks rather loosely about " the complete abolition of aerial bombing and of bombing' aircraft." To obtain agreements against aerial bombing is the accepted aim of policy ; though it must not be forgotten that the value of these (as of all other) international restraints will vary not a little according to the outcome in the Abyssinian test-case. But in regard to bombing aircraft, the most elementary difficulty is that every large civil aeroplane is a potential bomber, which can be -made an actual one by quite trifling adaptations. And you cannot ' " abolish " all civil aircraft.
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