MUNITIONS NOT PAID FOR

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21973, 23 December 1936, Page 9

MUNITIONS NOT PAID FOR

FRANCO’S DEBTS TO GERMANY LULL IN FIGHTING IN SPAIN 0 i jfO THOUGHT OF CHRISTMAS TRUCK (rsiTEP press arsociatios- copyright.) (Received December 22, 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, December 21. According to a message from Mad- , rid, German business activity in the insurgent portion of Spain is arousing resentful alarm. This activity is likely to spread, inasmuch as General Franco already owes Germany £19,000,000 for munitions, and he has not yet paid for 237 aeroplanes, which a newspaper asserts Germany sent the rebels. General Franco lacks foreign exchange to pay these debts. He hopes partly to defray them with minerals, which, instead of going to Britain, France, and Holland as formerly, will now go to Germany un- ' der a special decree of the Burgos Junta. The Madrid correspondent of The Times” says that, although there is a lull in the fighting, there arc no thoughts of a Christmas truce. Subscriptions have been opened to provide comforts for soldiers, but the Government has ordered that there be no relaxation of vigilance. Syndicalist unions, on the other hand, demand suppression of all Christmas boxes, and also declare that what the children of Madrid need and desire is not toys but substantial meals. SINKING OF SOVIET STEAMER CONVOY SYSTEM MAY BE ADOPTED PARIS, December 21. It is reported in French circles that, arising from the sinking of the Soviet steamer Komsomol by a Spanish rebel warship, Russia intends to seek international support to declare the rebel fleet pirates, failing which she may consider adopting a convoy system. Mass meetings throughout Russia are protesting against the sinking of the Komsomol, and demanding immediate action. The Komsomol, which was owned by the Russian Shipping Trust, was due at Gibraltar on December 15 with 6209 tons of manganese iron ore, consigned to a Belgian firm at Ghent. The sinking occurred between Oran and Cartagena, on December 14. The fate of the crew of 30 is unknown. WOMAN ARRESTED IN PARIS ALLEGED COMPLICITY IN ARMS EXPORTS PARIS, December 21. A sensation was caused by the arrest of a handsome widow, Mme. Suzanne Linder, who was employed as a secretary at the Quai d Orsay, for alleged complicity in the forgery of documents to facilitate the export of arms to Spain. Mme. Linder’s suite of rooms in a fashionable hotel was incompatible with her salary, but she said that she privately conducted an estate agency, which the police allege was the centre of an extensive arms ix ci flic Her wealthy Lithuanian friend, M. Rosefield, was als<D arrested. Mme. Linder is a niece of the late M. Phillipe Berthelot, a former Sec-retary-General for the Foreign Ministry. , A further sensation was caused when 20 large cases containing the components of five modern military aeroplanes were seized in a garage at Biarritz. It is believed that they were destined for the Spanish insurgents.