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This newspaper page contains 24 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Canberra Times
Location
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Date
Jun 10, 1940
Page
2
Rainfall totals rise to 97 points for the year in Canberra and the region reports wheat arrivals in Goulburn and losses at a local tennis association meeting. Snow coats Mt Franklin as skiers prepare. Goulburn asks residents to billet 500 soldiers for active service due to tent shortages. Pilot Officer W F E Scott is remembered at Canberra church.
Prime Minister Menzies announced after talks with the States that the King's Birthday holiday on June 17 will be observed with normal staffing in munitions and defence sectors. Essential Commonwealth departments will have sufficient officers on duty, and a uniform future holiday policy will be studied in light of emergency conditions.
The text argues Italy seeks greater Mediterranean influence, faulting its status as a closed sea without a voice in entrances. It notes Italian propaganda aiming to alter Gibraltar's status and secure a seat on the Suez Canal Board, amid rising Abysinnia and Italian Africa traffic through Red Sea routes.
Reuters World Act outlines special arrangements for intelligence synthesis. The compilation relies on multiple sources to provide overses intelligence, with rights reserved for the new material.
A month long slide grips Australian shares with Government stocks and mining indices falling. Investors face war induced caution, shifting funds to cash and gilt edged securities while some move into real estate schemes under a hoped inflation hedge.
Captain Aarons of the Ex-Soldiers War Service Association urged Mr Menzies be freed to focus on war prosecution. A Deputy Prime Minister would take over his duties while Britain and the Dominions collaborate on a progressive war policy. He warned Germans are organized threats in war.
The British Orphans Adoption Society formed in Sydney aims to place healthy British children in Australian homes to relieve Britain's infant population and aid the Commonwealth war effort. It will arrange lawful adoptions by Australian citizens, support orphans from Britain or Australia, and fund transport through a Transport of Orphans Fund from donations.
The article recounts the 1918 to 1939 development of a degaussing system that neutralizes magnetic mines. It details how civilians and officers analyzed, neutralized, and dismantled a mine near Shoeburyness, led by Commander J. G. D. Ouvry. The process, dangers, and rapid collaboration under wartime pressure are described, with emphasis on survivability and engineering ingenuity.
The article describes a non magnetic mine with a delicate magnetic needle that fires a detonator when a passing ship deflects it. An auxiliary, impact detonator was removed by Ouvry and his team who were honored by the King. Petty Officer Baldwin was later killed during mine clearance. Magnetic mines lie on the sea bottom and require ships to be in the danger zone to explode. Britain aims to develop special clearance methods beyond standard sweeping.
Reports say de-gaussing belts have been fitted to ships of all sizes from trawlers to battleships to reduce magnetic signatures. The practice, tied to anti submarine measures, has drawn attention in naval circles for its potential impact on mine avoidance and ship defense.
The Minister for Supply announced a large staff increase in railway workshops to produce war equipment. About 1,000 trained men and workshop facilities will be mobilised, with the railway commissioner coordinating support. The chief of staff and the Director-General of Munitions will oversee the effort.
The campaign for war saving certificates opened in Bathurst over the weekend led by the Local Government Association president and Bathurst mayor Alderman Griffin. Bathurst contributions total £83,000, a result welcomed by the War Savings Certificate Committee.
A.N.S.W. Labour meeting in the Domain passed a resolution opposing conscription and any censorship of working class and trade union publications. Police arrested one man and charged him with offensive behaviour.
Canberra Y W C A Committee reports £47 10s raised toward funds for huts in France for women serving with Allied forces. Five huts costing about £2,000 each are needed immediately to support nurses and other women near the front. The effort mirrors Britain’s appeal to voluntary societies amid wartime demands and blackout regulations.
A Sydney fire at 3 a.m. trapped four women in a King's Cross home, rendering two unconscious. Firefighters fought through smoke to reach them, one woman fell 20 feet from a balcony. Four women were hospitalised, and Mrs Eame Gilmer died from burns sustained in the blaze.
The Secretary for the Interior orders governors to rush foreigner registrations to inform the government of exact numbers locations and activities. The casualty list from London reports 220 names including officers and men.
The Wireless Institute of Australia N S W division, oldest of its kind, unanimously invites Sir Ernest Fisk to accept the office of patron to fill the vacancy since Marchese Marconi’s death in 1937. Fisk, famed for beam wireless service to Britain and Sydney London radio, is now serving the Commonwealth Government as Director of Economic Coordination and secretary to the Economic Cabinet during the war.
Swiss statement says two Swiss planes and two German planes were shot down over Swiss airspace. Two Swiss pilots were killed in the clashes.
A military tribunal in Marseille sentenced four men and a woman to death for espionage. Three men and a woman received prison terms.
The Battle of Flanders yields a moral victory for the Allies with Germany’s undefeated army shown capable of being beaten. RAF air superiority, heavy Allied losses, and the BEF withdrawal from Dunkirk are weighed as strategic costs and lessons for future Allied defense and potential German moves.
General Weygand organized a deep defensive line with numerous well fortified positions. French and British forces resist repeated German assaults. several hundred German tanks reportedly destroyed in the first 24 hours. Italy rejects Allied overtures and maintains non belligerent stance as Mediterranean and Near East preparations continue.
The Director of the Canberra Tourist Bureau William Dugbar will leave Canberra for a three weeks tour visiting Melbourne Geelong Ballarat Adelaide Mildura and Swan Hill to survey transport and accommodation and to promote broadcasts and public addresses. Lantern slides accompany the bureau’s Canberra publicity effort. In his absence Ulrich Ellis and others will continue the Sunday radio session This In Canberra.
London reports King and Queen visiting Canadian units at Aldershot. Also noted is the death of Australian doctor Francis Percival Halkyard aged 48 who practiced at Lowe toft for 15 years. A tripartite Belgium Britain France pact fixes Belgian franc at 174 to £1 sterling. An export levy of 3d per pound on rabbit skins begins soon to stabilise prices. In Buenos Aires the revived Emergency Bill aims to maintain neutrality and curb Fifth Column activities, with press censorship revisions removed.
Article notes France repeatedly offers negotiation over railway project linking Addis Ababa and Djibouti. Despite perceived Italian claims and looming war, French minister reiterates readiness to discuss any Italian issues and seek peaceful settlement.
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