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on . = aa] | 0 Japan's Bamboo . Te] And Paper Cities At a recent publishers' luncheon ruce Lancaster, author of Bright Ko The Wanderer, made the fol. lowl enlightning remarks re garding the probable damage to be done by bombing Tokyo and other' Japanese cities: 'As soon as the news of Pearl Harbor reached the States, the first reaction was, naturally, deep. anger, Then," unfortunately, came a great vindictive rubbing of hands: "Just wait until our planes tly over their bamboo and paper cities!" This cry was taken up by the public in-general, fostered by numerous columnists, many of - whom should have known better through residence in Japan. It has brought on a wave of wishful thinking that, to my mind, is dan- gerous, Thé average citizen (and tod often the writer) seems to have conjured up a picture of a few Allied bombers flying over Honshu and scattering, rather casually, a few incendiary bombs. Easy, isn't it? Why, two or three bombs would wipe out any one of their bamboo and paper cities! . . v That's fine. But the cities aren't paper and « Nagoya, Yokohama are brick, con- crete, steel, stone, (At this point some one arises to say: "But I've seen pictures of--") Of course he has seen pictures of Japanese houses. But how are they built? The Japanese-style house has, to hegin with, a root of heavy tile. (Not _bamboo, not paper, not thatch--though you will find thatch in the country district; it's not very inflammable, due to con stant exposure to a rainy climate.) This roof is about 50 to 60 per cent of the house. : The supports ~d@re made of cedar or pine, not sea. - soned -as we know the term, The walls are" mud-plaster laid over a network of withes. Paper is often pasted over sliding, removable frames for windows, but of later years, glass has been used more ° and more. This paper is so in- flammable that it will burn oft Its frame without even charring the wood. Partitions between rooms are often a heavy, spongy card- board - set in wood "frames and little more combustible than wood. Barring charcoal fires in big pots, there is no heat. There Is little, it any, furniture to burn. And bamboo (which agdin is not pos- sessed of a low combustion point) i8 used only for trimmings, orna- mental work and $0 on. There is plenty of water in every house, for the family bath-tub is full 9914 per cent of the time. Water-pressure (for fire fighting purposes) is good in most cities, especially those in the hills. * . * This is not to say that a Japan ese house, or city, is not inflam- mable. It is, highly so. In fact. it's nearly 20 per cent as inflam. mable as our American cities with their rows of shingle-roofed three deckers and tenements. A Can- adian city, where more brick, plas. ~--ter and" tile are used than with us, would be closer to Japanese in safety than would ours. This is not to say. that bombing will not help beat Japan. It will help enor- mously. But a Japanese city will have to be bombed as thoroughly as Bremen or Kiel. "A few bombs from American," Canadian or Aus- tralin planes aren't going to burn up the Empire. If we aell our- selves on the idea that they are, we're in for a bad shock, British W. A. A. F. Did Splendid Job Britain's W.A.A.F's--the girls of the Women's Auxiliary Afr Force --did their biggest job last week. They 'played. an important part In the success of the 1,000-plane ratd on Cologne. The W.A.A.F\'s assisted the R.A, F. men in the planning and execu- tion of the raid. Some of the girls acted as interpretation officers at the bomber command headquart- ers, where they passed days pre- paring target photographs and maps which the bombers ,carrled. ---~--As meteorological clerks In tha" weather section, others provided the forecasts which decided what - night the raid waa to be launch- ed As motor transport drivers, still others drove air crews to starting points and awaited their: return with ambulances ready in case of need. They. kept the telephone lines open from disk until after dawn aud alzo worked In long sliifts at teleprinters and in opera: gions rooms as code.~and cipher clerks. ' cay As radio girls W.AAF.'s passed landing inatructions by telephone to the returning crews. They pre- pared and packed food for the out-going airmen and had tea and coffee ready when they arrived back. The work of thesa "back room" girls: continued long after the last of the returning crews wera home, in bed, They were on the phors sending out details of missing planes and helping gather the news, y 3% » --a-- they aten't bamboo, : The vital points -of" Tokyo, Kobe, 7 J 7 VOICE PRESS WOMAN IN THE CHAIR Though - it was accomplished quietly and without ceremony, & truly historic occasion took place 'when Mrs. Cora Casselman, M.P, for Edmonton East, sat briefly as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole House. at Ottawa, It marked: the first time & woman has ever presided over a sitting the Dominion" Capital, ; «This country has been compara. tively backward in" putting wo- men in _Parliamentary There are but four of them in the Commons 'and 'Sénate today. But we are progressing, Mrs, Casselman's occupancy of the Chair, brief though it was, dgmon- strates how far we have gone along the road of finally admit. ting that women are "persons," -- Windsor Star et CORSET LORE Discussions as to the possibil. ity of a shortage of feminine form compressors such as corsets and girdles due to the need of con- serving steel and rubber for war needs recalls the lines of Samuel Hoffensetin: Nothing. from line swerves So sharply as a woman's curves. & straight These are indced times that must try the souls of stylish stouts. Some time ago in Eng- land corsets were rationed be- cause of the acute need of steel. It was then Louis Shaw wrote: The ship of state for an even keel, Needs tons and tons of corset steel, Li The die is cast, the fates have o written - The ladies now must bulge for Britain, ----Dunnville Chronicle tele LESSON FOR FATTIES Ten co-eds of the University of Chicago went without sugar in their food and drink for two weeks by way of exporiment. At the end of that time they had lost an aggregate of over 26 pounds. This may teach some- thing to men, as well as women, in the fatty forties and fifties. --=St, Thomas Times-Journal --0--- WANTED TO KNOW Someone has reported the text of a telegram sent to railway headquarters in Nairobi, East Africa, by a native telegrapher down the line. The telegram read: "Three lions on platform. Station master in water tank. Please wire in. structions." : --Boston Globe" --0-- BRIGADIER IN IROQUOIS Brigadier O. M. Martin, named. to command a brigade in the Tth Canadian Division, is a full- blooded Iroquois. Tecumseh would be proud of him, especially as he fought overseas during the Great War with the Canadian infantry and the Royal Flying Corps. --Brockville Recorder and Times : --0-- TASTE OF BOTH It was Wordsworth's lament * that "plain living and high think- ing are no more." But now the plain living is being enforced -and we are beginning some tall think- 3 ing. --Kansas City Star NO OIL; NO DUST Why worry? 'There won't ba enough road oil to lay the dust that motorists won't raise anyway. --Kitchener Record Tank Fights Duel : With Italian Sub What seems to be the first duel between a tank and a submarine at sea was fought just before the British campaign in Libya opened, says London Calling. A British officer, telling she story in a BBC broadcast, explained how, in making our-preparations for ths offensive, we reinforced the To- bruk garrison with heavy infantry tanks Without the Germans suspect: ~ ing, the tanks were taken up to Tobruk in small barges--shallow draft vessels with 'no great turn ~of speed. One barge was nosing gently along the coast bound for Tohruk when an Italian submar- ine surfaced near her and opened' fire, The crew of the tank were abcard and fortunately in their machine when the attack began, The turret of the tank was just protruding abéve the gunwale of the barge; it was rapidly swung around and a two-pounder with, armor-piercing shot was turned on the Italian submarine, k The Italian got the shock of his life when a little flat-bottom. od tub of a: boat suddenly un- leashed rapid and austained fire that was altogether too accurate. The submarine . ceased fire and ived. The barge and cargo went + of either House of Parliament in « «office, . - stories are published, on its way aA The great task now confronting - a diberated America, which more than three-quarters of a. contury ago fought a four-years war to free the slaves, is to aid in work- ing out the freedom of the whole world from slavery, The Christian Science Board of Directors told several thousand Christian Scl- entists gathered in annual meet. ing in Boston last week. Meeting in their Mother Church under the world-cnveloping shad. ow of what is probably the gravest threat. to political and religious freedom since the advent of Christianity, the visitors were re- minded in a report by The Chris. tian Science Board of Lecture- ship that the union of Britain and America was foreseen forty-four years ago by Mary Baker Eddy, - Leader of this world-wide religi- Discoverer and Founder of Chris. tian' Science, as the instrument through which the rights of free peoples everywhere might be per- manently established and protect- ed, ' This welding together of the two great democracies, under the impact of an international crisis, said "the Lecture Board, is the consununation of the fond hopes of all Christian Scientists, The Board alluded specifically to a poem written in 1808 by the ous movement, Mrs. Iiddy, which reads in part as follows: ' Brave Britain, blest Americal Unite your battle-plan; Victorious, all who live it,-- The love for God and man." ALAN MAURICE 7) IRWIN A Weekly Column About This and That in The Canadian Army National unity is a. term that has been loosely, often much tao Joosely, interpreted to mean the interrelation of English and French speaking Canadians, So generally accepted has this inter- pretation become that most of us seem to have forgotten that na- tional unity is non-existent so long as the tribulations of Cana- dians in any of the provinces are not- shared by Canadians in the other provinces. What prompts this sermonizing is the recent flurry over the re- duction of the gasoline rationing unit in the Maritime Provinces from five gallons to two due to a . shortage which by the time this reaches print may have disappear- ed. There was a perfectly natural feeling down cast. that it was not fair that Maritimers should be on "short commons" when drivers in the other six provinces still could obtain their full ration, Ottawa answered by pointing out reasons that fully justified the reduction. All of this is a preamble to the charge that we are failing to live up to our privilege of serving in the ranks' of the Individual Citi- zen's Army, : ) How? It should be obvious! Have we in the central and western parts of the country any moral right to five gallons ot gasoline when because of trans- portation or any other difficul- ties, fellow privates in cur behind the lines army -- who are much closer to actual warfare and po- tential attack--have to be reduc- ed to two gallons? Why, if there is true national unity, do we not spare the public embarrassment of Ministers we employ to govern us by voluntar- ily reducing our consumption of gasoline to the lowest level forced upon any geographical section of the Dominion? Citizens of countries where "verboten" is a familiar word read garbled accounts of our pro- vincial differences, accounts that are magnified to the point of making some of -us appear-to be "oppressed minorities," when such But the facet" that such storiey are "pub. lished is the fault of the citizens who fail to give the lead to those --to enjoy that sort of-thing----and - work .casier. "way we can, make rationing and 'active service overseas 'a chance "fence but I have not heard any thoy have set in authority. We cheerfully and voluntarily ration ourselves in the use of tea, coffee and sugar. Why not ration ourselves in the use of gasoline? If we can drink our fewer cups of tea and coffee unsweetened why can't we walk a mile or two and save the gasoline we would have used for war uses? o = Across this country from coast to coast business experts are de- voting their talents to the working out of a system of price and sup- ply control that will spare us the horrors of inflation and maintain stocks of essential war goods for our fighting forces. Some of these men serve without pay, the others--away from their normal occupations--sacrifice the normal advancements and promotions they could expect if they stayed in their own jobs. These men don't enjoy restrict- ing and controlling their neigh- bours--it takes a Nazi mentality they welcome action on the part of Canadians that makes their Why can't we then, who are all out to win the war in the best contrel unpecessaty. Surely we can stint ourselves for the com. mon good! } The soldier who leaves a $160 a month job to volunteer to serve in uniform for (in the case of a single man) a little 'more than half of that amount has voluntar. ily rationed himself much nore severely than we have been called upon. Sugar, tea, coffee, gasoline and tires, as this is written, are the only rationed commodities, It's funny how sor : of them tie in with each other... The use of less sugar reduces the "spare tires" some of us carry around. The use - of less gasoline increases the life of "spare tires" we cannot re- place. Have you joined the Reserve Army yet? Encouraging signs are visible in some parts of the coun- try since this wdrkable body was set up to give those ineligible for to train themselves for home de- commanding officer say yet that he can't handle any more recruits. That's another branch of the Individual Citizen's Army! .the Southwest, and 2,34b< miles © kimo name of Udukta. . for vessels making for the gold Dutch Harbor Dutch Harbor is situated on tiny Amaknak Island in a deep inlet of the northern shore "of much larger Unalaska Island, one of the long chain of Aleutians which string out in a sweeping are toward Japan, It is about 2,836 air miles from Tokyo on from San Francisco on the Souths east, "It thus forma the apex for a roughly triangular ling which might be drawn onthe 'map be- 4}: tween the three points, © * From Seattle, Wash., to Dutch Harbor is 'about 1,900 air miles. The United States has been - building fortifications there since 1040, Their extent has been kept secret. . Dutch Harbor, which until re- cently was only a village with a trading post, a fuel oil depot, and a naval radio station, receiv- ed its name because of the tradi. tion that a Dutch ship first en. tered its bay, a bulletin from the National Geographic Society points out. Russian navigators, however, carly came this way, They knew the then-busy fur sealing .centra by its native Es. Later, the harbor became a way station rush regions: of the Yukon and Nome, Alaska, . en Dutch Harbor is 13 miles long by half a mile in width. Water: - is deep near the shores and in most parts of the harbor; violent gales occasionally sweep tliese waters, when mariners are warned to look out for williwaws, sudden gusts of cold land air, common along mountainous coasts of high latitudes. SCOUTING . . . Scoutmasters, Cubmasters and Commissioners of India last year contributed 10,000 rupees, or 750 pounds, to Britain's War Dis- tressed Scouts Fund for Scout air raid sufferers. * . . Toronto Boy Scout Leaders have been giving cooking instruc- tion to a detachment of fifty girls of the Food Administration Ser- vice of the Canadian Red Cross Corps. The course is being given at the Crooked Creck Boy Scout campsite, and is a feature of pre- parations being made by the Red: Cross against any war eventuality which may call for the emergency feeding of large numbers of per- 80Ns. ~ One war service job of Bethnel Green (London) Boy Scouts was the crection recently of 4,000 bunks in local Tube shelters. * . . War Savings Stamps were the admission tickets sold at the door for a Boy Scout and Girl Guide entertainment at the Noranda High School. . . * Discussing the previous spare. time training of young recruits for the Imperial Forces, Brig.- General Clark, for over 30.years a training officer of Regular Army -and- Territorial units, was recently quoted as giving first place to former Boy Scouts. Said General Clark: "A batch of First Class Scouts or King's Scouts would prove more acceptable to a Commanding Officer or a Ser- geant Major as recruits -than a similar number of lads with any other form of spare-time occupa- tion in their past." . . . The newest Canadian Boy Scout war service project is the sending" of good used Scout uniforms to British Boy Scouts now unable to secure them, Ll * . A growing proportion of the men of H, M. Forces who have distinguished themselves in im- portant actions with the cnemy are being discovered as former Boy Scouts or Scout leaders. Among the Swordfish pilots who attacked the warships, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst and gave their lives, was Lieut. -Bligh, a mem- ber of the 159th North London Boy Scout Troop. Lieut. David L. Davies, who took a prominent part in the St Nazaire raid, also was a Scout, and the complete job of "quartermastering" - for - an- other commando raid was handled by a former Scoutmaster, Lord. Lovat, leader of the Boulogne Commando raid, is President of the Inverness-shire Boy Scouts ers, Association, THE WAR - WEEK -- Commentary on Current Events Six Months After Pearl Harbor Japan Strikes In North Pacific The Japanese military leaders are presented by the New York Times as 'advantageously siting in the centre of a circle, Their opponents have had the task of deciding at just what point on that -circlo they would strike. After the preliminary move against Pearl Habor fhéy moved south. There 'they strengthened themgelves on © the rubber and tin of Malya, the oil and rubber aud foodstuf(s of the Indies. Then it was west into Burma, the gateway to Southern China and India, While their arm- les lust, week marched<toward fu. dia and hammered at the vital central aud coastal regions of China, their navy again fought in the North Pacific. Still their lead- ers could choose which of all these moves would be the main blow. Midway Attack The Japunese had done little in the north Pacific since Pearl lar- bor. Mor ships and Zero fighter planes were busy in the south. Ship-plane teams won control of the Macassar Strait from Amerl- can forces operating with the Dutch and British, deteated a Un- ited Nations fleet in the Java Sea. Not until Japan reached the Coral Sea -dld her string of vle- tories - end. There, supported, by land-based aircraft, a United Na. tions fleet drove a strong Japan- ese task force north into her nowly conqiered Islands, though there was no thought that that victory for the United Nations was final. Last week exactly six. months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan again tried her luck in the north. Raiding parties of Japanese aircraft hit at Dutch Harbor in. Alaska's Aleutian Is. lands. Southward 1,900 miles,- an- other heavier attack was directed against Midway Island, American outpost between carl Harbor and Tokyo. This time the Japanese did not find American planes lined up on the ground, so many easy targets for Japaness bombers, They were in the air and fighting, Japanese airplane carriers, battle- ships, cruisers aud transports suffered heavy damage, damage tar out of proportion, it i3 report. ed, to that suffered by the defend- The Midway area not only remained In Amorican hands but the Japanese force appeared to limp oft after a bad mauling by Army, Navy and Marine Corps fliers. * Keystone Of Pacific Both points attacked by the Jap- anese were shrewdly chosen to draw the concerned attention of American mllitary chieftains, Their military value to America was great. Dutch Harbor, a small island of matted grass and five trees, stands near the base of the Aleutians that arc out 1,600 miles toward Japan. It is a placo of rain and snow and fog and hard winds, and there the United States has a base which may one day, be the springboard: for an attack straight at the heart of Japan, De fensively it stands guard over the Alaskan territory which has come to have Increased strategic value with the Incteased military value "7 of airplanés, From Alaska the, wide reaches of the Pacific grow stall, come within the operating,' range of aircraft: the 6,135 miles from Tokyo to San Francisco be- comp. 2,315 from butch Harbor, As long ago as 1920 Alaska was called "The keystone of the Pao- ic arch'. Effect Undetermined Midway Island, the second ob. Joctive of the Japanese force, is an atoll of two tiny islands sure rounded by shoals and reefs, Guarded heavily by Aviny, Navy, and Marine forces, it constitutes almost ap outer defense.for Pearl Harbor, 1,300 miles aavay,, Awmerl- ca's bastion in the mid-Pacific. la Japanese hands it could be the base for 'harrying attacks against the big ships berthed at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese have pald it constant attention, attacking It at Jewst once each month--ox- ceptipg for April -since the start of the war. But the attacks hdve been light, by occasional airplancs or submarines. Carrfers and battles ships operating near Midway last week were attacking forces of & dilterent order. It seems quite conclusive now that the Japauvse ran futo a 'trap at Midway Island and that they were badly stung. But the full axe tent of the damage they have sul fered and its 'effect upon poasible future Japaness operations re-- mains to he dotermined. } U. S. Strategic Success Other operations, perhaps even another attack on Hawaii. or an offensive against Russia, may have heen dependent upon -the success of the Midway attack and the mysterious happenings near Dutch Harbor. And in repulsing the Japanese. The Pacific Floot may well have dealt the enemy a severe blow in the "Bast. But {t would seem too early to conclude that the Japanese defeat is a dis- aster. In all probability, the Japanese possess sulficient sea and ake strength, oven after the Midway losses are subtracted, to attompt either new offensive actions or te put up strong resistance against any operations undertaken by the United Natlons, : Nevertheless, In preventing the Japanese from gaining possessiom of Midway, American forces have achleved a strategic success of no mean importance. From Mid- way, the Japanese could have raided - Pearl Harbor and possibly could have launched a major Pa- cific offensive with the West Coast and the Panama Canal as ultimate objectives. LIFE"S LIKE THAT By Fred Neher 3 "Why do you always avoid -me?!!". THIS WALL! SEE HERE, YOU YOUNG é SCALAWAG / STOP BOUNCING | 7. THAT BASEBALL AGAINST REG'LAR FELLERS--What's in a Name? ( AW, BE A SPORY, MISTER! 11'S THE BEST WALL IN TOWN CONFOUND IY, BOY. HOw CAN A PERSON REST WITH THAT ETERNAL THUMPING GOING ON? NOW, GO AWAY! By GENE BYRNES el A SWANK g AVL, B AVKLEYTIC CcLul Tg) PHOOEY/