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Aviation History
1919
1919 - 0746.PDF
JUNE 5, 1919 /MR IS MS FROM THE FOUR WINDS. IN the Afghan trouble war in the air has again taken a front seat. The comparatively very small samples of bombing which the Amir's troops and citadels have so far experienced have already had their effect. Not only was Dakka, an Afghan keystone, hurriedly evacuated, but now our aircraft has sojput the fear of God into the Amir and his satellites that he is squealing " feign-its " with no uncertain squeal. Another reminder that the nation which rules the air rules the world. " CAN M.P.'S live on ^400 a year ? " is the heading of a long exposition in one of the London morning " inspired " dailies. WE sincerely hope not, as then perhaps they'll have to take to some respectable occupation, instead of drawing absence- of-work dole. These days of Coalition they don't have to file into the Lobby in the whipped-up Government queue, even once a week, like their fellow dole recipients at the Labour Exchanges or other paying-out depots. MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL can never be accused of mincing words against his convictions. Like most impetuous men, at times he must necessarily make mistakes, but in the long run the very fear of what he may say and do next has probably made many a man pause in the launching of some political scheme of moment. * Over the recent threatened police strike, Mr. Churchill has in his customary way spoken out pretty plainly, and if his accusations as to the work and methods of a labour newspaper be true, the only marvel is that instant Government action should not be taken to suppress the newspaper in question and to bring to justice each and every one concerned in the accusation. Mr. CHURCHILL'S comments referred to were made in last week's Parliament in connection with the so-called " secret " official circular to home troops as to their attitude in the event of an industrial strike, &c. Mr. Churchill said the circular had now lapsed, but he is still receiving weekly reports on the temper of the Army. The King of Spain inspects a Handley Page machine. Lieut. Mayne explaining details to the King and the Spanish Minister of War at the Military Aero drome at Cuatro- Vientos. & Si 5S IF it be only in justice to the R.A.F. we should like to see that enquiry materialise in regard to the bringing over of dogs from the Continent in aeroplanes, There should be no difficulty in bringing it home to the culprits, if the accusa tion be true, and then the suggested Court-Martialling of the delinquents should automatically follow, although the " smart sentence " mentioned of loss of gratuity, as being likely to check this flagrant act against the public, hardly seems to us to meet the case. Much more drastic handling in our opinion is needed, whether the delinquents be identified in the R.A.F. or any other quarter. Nothing short of severe imprisonment " without the option " to our view, will effect a cure for selfish mania of this sort. The position is decidedly unpleasant for the R.A.F. now that the official at the Board of Agriculture who is mainly responsible for the adminis tration of the Rabies Order is reported to have definitely stated that information recently obtained satisfied the Board that many officers of the R.A.F. were flagrantly dis regarding orders and were smuggling dogs into this country from France and Belgium. Coming to the circumstances in which the circular was published, he pointed out that it was a confidential document which had been stolen. " It has been published by a news paper with the deliberate object of causing trouble and mis chief," he said. " The whole intention of this paper is to provoke an outbreak in the form of a mutiny or a general strike, or, preferably, both together, in the hope that a general smash up and overturn of society may result. Whether it is discharged soldiers, or the police, or the soldiers still retained in the Army, or the workmen who are engaged in the vital services of the country, the object of this paper is to weave them all together and rouse them all up to make a general overthrow on the Russian model. " I am asked, Why do you not prosecute this revolutionary organ ? The answer is simple. We believe that the structure of British society is sufficiently stable and sufficiently solid to enable us to allow even this unbridled licence. We know the paper has a feeble circulation. We know that doctrines it puts forward are exceedingly repulsive to responsible leaders of Labour, and are not shared by all that great, sane, sober 746
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