BLOCKADE OF SPAIN

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22271, 9 December 1937, Page 11

BLOCKADE OF SPAIN

ACTION NOT RECOGNISED BY BRITAIN REPLY GIVEN TO INSURGENT authorities (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) FtUGBY, December 7. A Note has been received from the Spanish insurgent authorities about the declaration recently made on the blockade of the Spanish Government coasts. The British Ambassador (Sir Henry Chilton) has been instructed to remind General Franco that belligerent rights have not been recognised, therefore the British Government cannot recognise any right to declare a blockade. British shipping, it is stated, will continue to be protected when trading with Spanish ports. In reference to the suggestion that the approaches to the ports will be mined, the attention of the insurgent authorities is called to The Hague Convention forbidding the laying of mines off the coasts and ports of an enemy with the sole object of intercepting commercial navigation. WITHDRAWAL OF VOLUNTEERS PLANS EXAMINED BY LONDON COMMITTEE LONDON, December 7. After considering the replies from General Franco’s representatives and the Spanish Government, the Non-Intervention Committee decided that they constituted acceptance of the principle of the committee’s plans for control in Spain and the withdrawal of volunteers. The committee is now considering the various schemes point by point. This work is expected to take several days. REBEL AIRMEN RESCUED ALLEGED REFUSAL OF AID BY RUSSIAN SHIP GIBRALTAR, December 7. Two of General Franco’s airmen who were forced down in the Mediterranean were picked up by the liner Largs Bay, after they had been clinging to the wreckage of their aeroplane for several hours. They declare that a passing Russian ship refused them aid.