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- To Oust Deadwood From British Army Older Officers Must Be Able To Stand The Pace In a sweeping move to rid the British Army of deadwood, the 'army council ordered u& rigid in. vestigation of the. qualificxtions of all officer's of 45 years or older up to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, & . The action,' comiug less than 10 i 3 days after the appointment of Sir 3 James Grigg as war secretary, was acclaimed by the London press as + "a great purge" which would step wp the efficiency of the army and eliminate inept and overage of- ficers, Reliable sources said a similar purge wag planned by the air min. ¥stry ang that both the army and RAF, henceforth would alm at "promoting younger men of proved ability to higher ranks, despite sen- jority." Pw a ey diel FO Cog Wl EL - AAS -- ig Ary % Ty > Re : ey NE i bluntly that "it has become evident there are now a number of officers who for a variety of reasons . , , are wot able to discharge thelr present dpties." The infestigation will insure, the, council sald, that those holding commands at home and abroad "possess the qualities essential for the strain and speed of present day warfare." All officers affected by the order are put into one of three groups after the investigation: (1) Those recommended for continued service with their units; (2) those recom- mended for less active duty, and (3), those: recommended for dig- charge, - 2 FOR AIR RAIDS i Montrealers will take notice sirens go off when and if there are air raids over the city. Above is one of the 40 now in the City Hall garage. Four units were de- livered to the C.P.C, recently and 34 other. large sirens will be de- livered shortly. These sirens are operated by five horsepower mo- tors. It was also announced that eight smaller units would he ac- quired at a later date. Wheat Price Set At Ninety Cents Minister of Agriculture An. AER nounces "Fair Programme," Says Maeptreal Star % No wheat program ever devised has satisfied everybody" but the plan announced in the House of Commons by the Minister of Ag- riculture and the Minister of Trade apd Commerce must strike every Canadian as being eminently fair, It fixes the initial price of wheat at ninety cents a bushel, twenty cents higher than the prevailing rate, and ensures the Western growers of farm revenues at a new high level--$475,000,000 as com- yd i 4% 5 paréd with $350,000,000 this year, pe F exclusive of government subsidies. 4 Hl Mr. Gardiner, replying to eriti- ke $ cism which inevitably follows any vy 34 ; announcenient about wheat, de- pats | elared that every dollar that can yt safely be taken out of the Federal 4 treasury is being taken out for this can be no effective retort: It js properly based on the assumption that the farniers are willing, and indeed, must, share in the hard. ships imposed by the war on every class' in the community. ? : The fixed price of ninety cents, as compared with the present sev- able. There will he a temptation, i under the circumstances, to jn. erase the acreage sown to wheat, A temptation whidi. My, Gardiner ge warned the wheat{"growers to re- i sist, for if more acreage i§ sown § the whole wheat problem Will be i aggravated. They should realize, # as the rest of the country will re- 4 8 alize, that the whole policy fs bh based bn equity, on a desire to iy : __ spread both the sacrifices and the 'benefits In wartime, for the initial price increase was fixed to bring 21455 i: fhe wheat giower to the same gen. ok | eral income level as is shown by ea | he ayerage for all farm production 5% ihe West. 1 Whatéver may be the program's #hortcomings ir the oyes of the 1 wheat grower, he must admit that "he is receiving substantial ald at "3 timo when war demands on the Sd reasiiry make fncreased afd exremely difficult to give, ly me the wedding ving de of iron, o The army council order declared . ' Calgary; when about 49 of these air-raid - many of them do in war work, Co] Would _add_ another hazard--splin- ---------- Purpose. To that statement tiere eo eNLy. cents, --appears--to--he-repasons-- ~when you need guns, larap, They sent the lamp, Its advantages. You cin stay out Becomes General Manager J. J. Gibbons Limited HARRY M. TEDMAN vewly appointed General Manager of J. J. Gibbons Limited, Adver- tising Agency. Mr. Tedman was a lifelong associate of the late John J. Glbbons, founder of the business. Mrs. J. J. Gibbons becomes Presi. dent, and Ralph A. Barford and R. B. Pattinson, Toronto, become ¢ directors, Other Officers and Dir- actors are: Harry M. Tedman and R. A. Stapells, vice-presidents, To- ronto; Walter H. Hoare, secretary- treasurer and director, Toronto; Harold MM. Reid, vice-president, Montreal; Gordon E. Hunter, vice. president, » Winnipeg; Ewart .Q, Macpherson, vice-president, Re- gina; Reg. G. Smith, vice-president, D. N. Crawford, vice- president, Vancouver, VOICE OF THE ONCE HOOTED DUKE OF * WELLINGTON London despatches "telling that three months. may see Prime Min. ister Churchill supplanted by Sir Stafford Cripps should perhaps be, accepted with caution. The odd thing, nevertheless, is that such tales should come at all, with their indication that Churchill's pres. tige, at its zenith a few short months ago, has begun to wane. The public is like that, Fickle in its loyalties and its worship- ping, it is all tob apt to turn upon its heroes and stone them. Thus it was that the Duke of Wellington, the man who broke Napoleon, was hooted by the mob pn an annivers-- ary of Waterloo, ha to have iron shutters placed upo\_his London home, Churchill did a mighty thing: for Britain and liberty after the fall of Dunkirk, But jt may he there was too much of pure emotion in the terrific build-up that was given him after that; a build-up which brought expectations of things beyond -the power of any man, --Ottawa Journal. SRE 2 OLD HANDS AT IT To say that the Japanese are mere imitators of Hitler's treach- ery is to flatter Hitler and libel |- Japan. The Japanese didn't have to imitate anyone. They were mas- ters of betrayal when Hitler was painting barns, We owe the Japan- ese an apology. ---Vancouver Sun. --0-- FASHION NOTE . Canada will use more wemen in war work to fill the breaches made in" industry and on the farms when men are called to service, And when the ladies don slacks, as they will also be filling the breeches," St. Thomas Times-Journal, --0-- i LIVING DANGEROUSLY New restrictions on the use of metals in Canada miake wooden bathtubs a possibility. To the danger of stepping on the soap thig --Windsor Star, iia WHILE IT LASTS <Ag to the' matter of rubber the old-time pedestrian. may reflect that after all there's uothing like leather--as long as we've got leather, -=Vancouver Province, ~0-- rid rei WHAT OPINION? Ds. Goebbels says that the re- cent R, A. I, ralds on France are very firltating to German public opinion, We didn't know that the German public had an opiplon, Peterborough Examiner, --O-- WEAK STUFF ' Next to having - the doorknob come off in the hand, the emptiest feeling is leaning on moral support ters. ~=8t. Catharines Standard, ean wood : : TOO LIBERAL Too often we get what we ask for, Thus, there is the Toronto Uni. versity student who wrote the folks for money to buy a study =Stratford Béacon-1Torald, . ---- OR CAN YOU? Being an A, R. P. warden has as Jaté' as you like at night and call it a military eecret, : * , Ottawa Citizen, _ grave chance of the Japanese push- WAKE UP, AMERICA -.- IT'S LATE ! The following editorial from The New York World-Telegram might well apply to Canada: The nation needs to awaken Ao the full gravity of the peril that confronts ft. _--. It needs to appreciate how badly 'We have: been defeated in three months of war, re It needs to understand that it ls possible for the United Nations and the United States td lose this ar and suffer the fate of France ~--and that this possibility may be- come a 'probability. if. the present tide does not change, - It needs to realize that there 1s ing through India and the Germans driving through the Near East, to Join their*armies and resources in an almost unbeatable combination, It needs to get away, once and for all, from the comforting feeling that while we may lose at the start 'we are bound to win in the end. Only when fully aware of existing perils wil) the United States do its rey God that awareness will not' come too late, as jt did in France! Production Director Donald Nel- gon appeals for vastly increased industrial output on a 24-hour, seven-day basis--168 hours a week. Maximum production, in short, Can we get it? 2 Not on the present basis--not the psychology of recent . under years, , Not until we quit thinking fn terms of less work for yiore money, Not while there is /greater" con- cern about overtime pay than over- time production, » Not while farmer politicians are more interested' in higher prices than raising more essentials, Not while government bureaus-- "created to meet a depression emer- gency that is ended---continue to grab for themselves money needed for armaments, * Y Not while an &rmy of federal press agents clamors to promote and perpetuate activities that have no presgnt need or value, : Not while Congressmen try to put over useless canals and river schemes and take up the time of defence officials clamoring for fac. tories and contracts as ix war were a great gravy train. Not while WPA, despite a short- age of labor, seeks to carry on pro- Jects which it doesn't have the men to perform 'or the need of performing, 3 ; Not while CCC 'and NYA stretch greedy hands for funds to pamper young men who ought to be in the armed forces or the war plants, Not while strikes hamper war production, despite a solemn prom- Ise that they would stop, ALAN MAURICE 7" IRWIN itizen's rmy' A Weekly Column About This and That in The Canadian Army "Form fours, right!" ~ Wrong, They don't form fours any more. But you knew that, didn't you? You have scen columns of sol- diers marching in threes. You have seen mechanized troops rumbling along the roads in a variety of khaki coloured vehicles of strange shapes and sizes. But you still wonder what the Individual: Citizen's Army does in place of the old parade-ground stuff of: "Form fours"; "At the halt, on the left--"; "Pick up that step in the rear rank, there"; "Iix bayonets"; you know the sort of thing, "0 "Well even though they don't "form fours" any more there is still a certain amount of parade ground work to be done. It's something like crawling before you walk, And in this- Army of ours, by the time you walk you really walk. Let's take it in stages -- from civilian clothes to specialized sol- dier., - There are four phases of train- ing for the mechanized specialist, Phase One is basic training which is. common to all arms -and- ser vices. 'This teaches the new sol- dier to accustom himself to Army life, trains him in marching and discipline and the use of a num- ger of weapons, Phase Two, to which men are "posted if their tests show them to have possi. bilities as mechanical specialists, is carried out in Technical Schools and prepares them for Phase Three, specialized advanced courses carried out at the Cana- dian Army Trades School, from which highly competent wood and metal workers, machinists, black- smiths, welders --- and a dozen other types of craftsmen are gra- duated. From Phase Three many men are posted direct to units to be repair and' maintenance .aen, driver-mechanics, ete, Last in the ladder of training is Phase Four, the finishing sehool for top-notch mechanics Armament artiticers, ifistrument-makers and men in such brackets whose high. ly technical qualifications fit them for the work of the Royal | Canadian Ordnance Corps. We have discussed Ordriance. be. fore in these columns but Ord- nance has so many ramifications that we will. probably discuss it again many times before the pic- ture of tne Individual Citizen's Army is complete, In addition to procurement and storage of practically everything the Army needs the Royal Cana- dian Ordnance Corps operates re- pair and replacement units of varying types and sizes according, to where the work has to be done, ¥ Not while the life-and-.eath need for uninterrupted production is, used as a weapon to put over the closed shop, bt. Not while double time is demand. ed for Sunday work which is only part of a 40-hour week. Not while a man can't be em- ployed on an army project or in a war plant until he pays $20 to $50 or nore to a labor racketeer. Not while criminal gangs control employment and allocation of me to work on the Normandie and the other ships along New York's vast waterfront. © : Not wlhille fifth columnists - are pampered and enemy aliens move freely in defence areas, Not 'while the grim job of prepar- ing our home communities against alr raid§ and sabotage 15 gummed up with a lot of highfalutin, boon- doggling, sociat service activity. Not while pressure blocks clamor for higher benefits, bounties and pensions, : We will. not get maximum pro. duction, in short, unless, first, we "fully realize our awful peril; and, second, get over the gimmes of recent years. : Gimme shorter - hours, gimme higher wages, gimme bigger prof- its, gimme more overtime, gimme less work, gimme more pensions, gimme greater crop benefits, gimme more appropriations and patron. age, glmme plants for my Congres- sional district, gimme fees And dues to work for Uncle Sam, gimme ham -'n' eggs, gimme share-the- wealth, gimme $30 every Thurs- day, : France had the gimmes too--had them till the Germahs were close to Paris. Then everybody. , went, frantically to work--too late, France has no gimmes today-- except gimme food for my baby, gimme a place to lay my head, gimme death, g Boy Scout Leaders Commended The value to Canada of the training of the Dominion's Boy Scouts by their 8,000 volunteer leaders," and an appeal to older persons to fill the places of the many Scouters who have enlisted, were emphasized in the radio ad- Eastern conflict ended with' the fall of Java, the "citadel island," of the East Indies. In estimating Japan's gains, the population in the conquered countries numbers. * roughly 115,000,000 and. the ter ritory acquired more than 1,000,- 000 square mites, They have cap- tured a treasure-house of essential war supplies and raw materials: rubber, tin, quinine, hemp, oil- 1) fields, foodstuffs, iron, wolfram, manganese and copper deposits which will go a long way toward raking Japan self-sufficient, leased Japanese forces for an at- |, tack on Australia and a heavier , thrust across the Burma barrier to India. British commander in India and Burma stated that the loss' of Rangoon and a lower Burma was, in some res- pects, a more serious blow than the loss of Singapore. the war much closer to India and threatens our communications with China, There appears to be little doubt that the Japanese will en- deavor to push their advance into upper Burma and to obtain bases from which to attack India. in Burma permits continuous at- tack on Japanese communication lines that will slow and, it is hoped, halt the advance of the Mikado's army, swamps fighting a delaying action with a |- two-fold purpose: their position for a few more weeks until the forces of nature in the form of torrential rains |. make all jungle warfare impos- sible and (2) to check the Japan ese advance until the Chinese army join them. _a i -------- EE ees ---------------------------- THE WAR - WEEK -- Commentary on Current Events Second Phase Of Fai East War ~ Opens With Threat To Australia The first phase of the Far The subjugation of Java has re- Allies Stand in Burma Geperal Sir' Archibald Wavell, large part of It brings United Nations' air superiority In the jungle the British - troops are (1) to hold marching southward can \ Naval Disaster It must be admitted that in the vl One unit makes repairs under fire, carrying its workshop, forges, welding sets, ete., right up to the damaged vehicles or guns that Week, dress of the Hon, J. T, "Thorson, Minister of National War Serv- ices, during February Boy Scout Battle of the Java Sea the United - Nations suffered a great naval defeat. The Allied fleet was hope- lessly outnumbered and lacked air support. It is becoming clear now + at greater distances from That's the other bar have to 'be fixed up. You'd be surprised to see what can be done by thoroughly trained men with the proper equipment right out in the middle of a field. Other units, larger and more fully equipped, are ready to handle jobs that Tequire more time. These, of course, are based the front to permit full-scale repair and recovery jobs to be carried out efficiently, "Do you mean to say they make mechanics out of ordinary re- cruits?"' You might say, Well the answer to that one is yes. It isn't as strange as it sounds. You're not forgetting, are you, that "most youngsters nowadays can take the engine of their fath- er's car down, overhaul it and set it-up again. Or that ma y a boy ~ of High School age knows more: about radio than Marconi 'opera- tors did a few years ago, . Out of material like that you can turn out a finished mechanic in a few months' time. Just as you can With former motor me- chanics, garage-men and automo. bile factory machinists, many of whom have already joined the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps. In its various phases the trades training programme teaches near- ly 100 trades. This is what you might call a double-barrelled job, Right now these schools and train- ing Tentres are supplying special- ists for war, = But when thé«war is success- fully concluded 'there will. come. the question of rehabilitation, Lhe young men wno are now being trained "for war ave, actu. = ally, veing paid while they train lor peace, 'this Army 1a not Ko-- ing to loose thousahds of yn- trained young nien upon: inaustry When reace 13 signed--it 1s going to mace avauanie skilled trades- - men who can contidenty take. their places" at pencn ana lathe and take up in civiban hie the job of recovery, and 'repair they learned in the individual uitizen's Army. Speaking over a national hook- up, as a representative of the Dominion Government, Mr, Thor- son - referred "to the important home defense services rendered by the Scouts of Britain, and the similarly valuable work being done by the Scouts of Canada, He. continued: "As Minister of National War Services 1 should like to say to every. Scout and Cub leader in Canada that 1 look upon his work as a matter of national import- ance, His status is similar to that of an officer in charge. of a train- ing unit or organization. He is doing national service of a high order." - ... . 900,000 Boys Trained Mr. Thorson described as<'e- markable the record of more than --900,000_boys"trained--in "good citizenship by the Boy Scouts As- sociation of Canada since its in- ception in 1908, He spoke of the high percentage of leaders and older Scouts who had enlisted, and that Japanese equipment was far greater in volume and higher in quality than Allied authorities had . calculated, the European war the Japanese merchant marine was one of the finest in the world. © that it is comparatively simple to - convert merchant vessels into air- craft carriers, It follows thatthe Allies have greatly under-esti- mated the number of plane car- riers 'in the Japanese navy and explains the extent to which the Japanése have been able to com. 'bine sea power and air power and to hold control of the air in all their campaigns. r South Pacific has been increased by her naval victory at Java. She _ has destroyed the only fleet which could menace" her lines of com- munication and is free now to convoy her landing forces to Aus; tralia. The battle will be anothe® At the beginning of It is known Race Against Time Japan's sca superiority in the race against time, a race between the enemy's advance and the °* landing of reinforcements in Aus- tralia, : 5: Help For Australia Premier Curtin of Australia, ia a broadcast to' America, madg & plea for full foapefation and warned that "Australia" the last bastion tween the weat coast of America and the Japan- ese--if Australia goes the Amerl- cas are wide open." Almost cojn- cident with Premier. Curtin's ap- peal:came the announcement that . . General Douglas MacArthur, the heroic defender of the Philippines, had been appointed to the Su- 'reme Command of the Allied Forces in the South . Western Pacific" with/headquarters in Aus- tralia, and' that heavy reinforce- ments of men and planes had reached the island. Tough Job For Japs Australia may prove to be the toughest job the Japs have tackled yet, even though they are un. doubtedly prepared to attack with all their power. Ever since the first Geat War, Australian lead- ers have been conscious of the Japanese menace and have>been planning the defence of their country The opening of hostili- 'ties three months ago emphasized the necessity for speed and the government in Canberra, the Commonwealth's modern capital, worked feverishly to mobilize the country's: 7,000,000 people for a maximum effort in the face of the emergency." - * The enemy. is striving desper- ately to establish air bases north of "Australia, so far with litlte success. Presure on Japanese bases to the northeast in New Guinea and New 'Britain has in- creased noticeably, indicating Australian reinforcements of bombing planes, Japanese Strategy The Japanese plan may be to conquer the country port by port, occupying strategic points and leaving the vast interior to 'the future. Distance in Australia is enormous. The country is almost the size of the United States. +1f° the Japanese effect land- ings, they will encounter in Aus- -tralia more fighting equipment than ,in any territory which they have succeeded so far in over- - running. Man for man, they will meet better fighters than them. selves and the army of defenders is much larger than any encoun- tered in Malaya or Java. White Man's Land Thus far," in their unchecked march of conquest, the Japanese have invaded countries with over whelming Asiatic populations which for centuries have been dominated by Europeans. It was proved in Malaya and Burma that these natives were in great mea- sure sympathetic to the invader, Australia is different. It' is a white man's. land_with no-swuhject races, The Japanese will have to fight a white man's army, fight- ing for a white man's country to the last ditch, The Japs won't like it, paid a tribute to the known 94 who already had paid the supreme sacrifice of patriotism, make up this loss' Mr, Thorson appealed to "older persons unable to enlist" to offer their help to local Scout organizations, : . Mr, Thorson paid a tribute to the practical nature of Boy Scout training, and declared that the . tests for the various Scout badges were genuine tests, "The final test for the rank of First Class Scout," he said, "was-the 24-hour journey to prove the lad's ability to find his way by compass and map, to bivouac, to camp, to cook, and gonerally to live on hig own ~ resources," ; ~~ Uontidence In Boy Scouts Mr. 'thorson reierred to the fact . that rresident: rrankim 1, Roosevelt was Honorary rresident of the more than a million Boy Scouts of America, He quoted irom a recent rauio hroaaggst ot the rresident, on the occasion ot Aluerican Boy scout reek, when Alter commending the valuable service renderea by American Scouts, thé rresident declared his confidence that they would con- tinue to erfectively play their part To help " { breserve . our livercy and bring Jeace on earth through complete victory over our enemies." on behalf of the Government of Canada the same confidence and trust in the Boy Scouts of Can- - ada, and 1 know that. each and every Scout in this country will be proud of the part that he has to play as a member of Canada's team to' help win the war," ,0f the weout-orgamzation to ine crease it possiofe its contrioution - to the Vomnion's all-out war ef- tort, sir, Thorson announced the creailon ot Wo new Scout badges by the Boy 'Scouts Association, 'Lnese sauge," to be awarded Scouts Who complete a specitied -train- ~INg. caicwiated to prepare - them lor any emergency the war may bring, Isauge," to be granted Scouts who have rendered 100 hours or more of definite war service, in the American progfamme to. Said Mr. Thorson: "i express War dervice Lfrorts | ; As an arcation or tae purpose were a "Be rrepared and a "war Nervice 21 Wooden Soldiers Scare Italian Army A British officer just' returned from Libya 'said 60 Britisn artil- lerymen nad captured b,245 1tald ans in the North Atrican desert with tne aid of 21 dummy soldiers armed with wooden guns. The dumnmes were placed in Positions to draw tne ltauan tire While the ariilleryn.en. advanced trom another direction, aeciared apt! rv, G, Birkin, Lhe Italians, thinking they were beg "outliankeu Dy- a superior Torey, he said, retreated Ly miles ana iad down tneir arms when _ the british pursuea, "Cafelite", the "invention of a United States chemist, will be utilized "in transforming 37,000 bags of, coftee into plastics this year-at-a new plant at Sao raulo, REG'LAR FELL ERS--The Inventor usrazil, eT ---- & > More than 56,000 blankets made of discarded paper machine ~ * felt have been sent to Britain. By GENE BYRNES i Be i 3 Af LRN = 4 or ! : A if : { - A reid FE