CONTROL OF SUEZ CANAL

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23477, 4 November 1941, Page 7

CONTROL OF SUEZ CANAL

Germany Trying To Acquire Share FRENCH HOLDINGS • BOUGHT (Received November 3, 8.30 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON. November 2. Through heavy purchases of French holdings Germany is trying to acquire a share in the control of the Suez Canal, according to a report from the Vichy correspondent of the Associated Press of America. . „ It is reported that Fritz Keller, who is believed to have been acting on be.half of a corporation sponsored by Goering, bought 25.000 French-owned shares from an industrialist and from a banker. Canal shares have risen 25 per cent, on the Paris and Lyons bourses in the last few weeks as a result of heavy buying, which is also believed to have been on behalf of German interests. The Germans pay shares in francs, of which they receive 300,000,000 a day for the upkeep of the army of occupation, which means that they secure the shares for nothing. France, it is believed, holds 40 per cent, of the 619,848 shares. There were large Dutch holdings before the war, and it is likely that the Germans could obtain control of these.

“SUPREME EFFORT QUICKLY” Sir Samuel Hoare’s Appeal SOMBRE MESSAGE FROM CONTINENT (8.0. W.) RUGBY, November 2. Sombre messages from the European Continent to the British people were brought by Sir Samuel Hoare, British Ambassador to Madrid. Speaking at Reading University, of which he is Chancellor, he said: “My message is not one of congratulation—fine though our effort be. It is not one of con-tentment-grateful though I am for the splendid efforts of my countrymen. “Still less is it one of complacency, in the belief that Hitler will not succeed where Napoleon failed. It is a message rather of appeal to my fellow countrymen, as guardians of European civilisation, to save from annihilation the great European inheritance before it is too late. “Britain would only stop Hitler,” said Sir Samuel Hoare. “if her weight ot industrial war material could beat down the masses he had accumulated. Europe must be a coat of many colours. It must never wear a uniform of Nazi grey or Gestapo black. “But only ,by an effort unparalleled jn history shall we' save European civilisation from a terrible end. We must make our supreme effort quickly and in time.” It might take long, he said. Napoleon had suffered no land defeat until 1805. But Britain must sooner or later show that she could beat Hitler’s war machine, before the paralysing fear of Germany would pass from Europe.

GERMAN PLANS FOR LATIN AMERICA NAZIS DENY ROOSEVELT’S CHARGES (Received November 3, 7 p.m.) LONDON, November 1. The German Government has issued a statement saying that Germany has officially informed all countries, including the Central and South American Republics that Mr Roosevelts charges regarding a Nazi Latin American map and his assertions about world religion were forgeries of the crudest and most impudent kind. A German spokesman, commenting on the anouncement, said "Mr Roosevelt has started ploughing under American boys. He is mobilising prejudice and organising a war for Jewry but he cannot prevent the defeat either of Russia or England.” INVASION WARNING REPEATED SPEECH BY BEVIN AT SWANSEA (8.0. W.) RUGBY, November 2 The Minister for Labour (Mr Ernest Bevin), speaking at Swansea, repeated his invasion warning. “Don t be under any delusion,” he said. ‘We know the preparations that are being made by Hitler and the divisions he has kept in reserve apart from those he is using in Russia. "If Mr • Churchill and the Defence Committee decide the strategy they have worked out to carry on the war to a successful conclusion, then we must have young men to give that strategy success,”' said Mr Bevin. He added that to increase production more and more people must be called upon. In order that women ipight be directed into the right place, he had decided to extend the restriction of engagement order to women between 20 and 30 years of age.

SAVING TQ BUILD WARSHIPS EFFORTS IN NEARLY 500 BRITISH CENTRES (8.0. W.) RUGBY; November 2. Nearly 500 centres in England, Scotland, and Wales are proposing to hold warship weeks this autumn and winter under the auspices of the National Savings Committee. The objectives set, according to estimates of local means, already range from minesweepers to battleships. Glasgow and Birmingham, by raising respectively more than £13,500,000 and more than £10,000,000, have achieved the battleship mark. The Isle of Man, setting itself £150,000 for one corvette, as a goal, has raised more than enough for four such units. Gower (Glamorganshire). with £120.000, far surpassed the £70,000 it aimed at for a motor torpedo-boat. Sheffield, aiming at a cruiser, has raised £4,040,000, almost enough for two. Before Christmas 144 warships weeks will be held, and 350 early in the New Year. PRISONER EXCHANGED FOR PETROL • LONDON, November 2. Mr Lindsay Sands, a South African lawyer owes his freedom to the fact that the Vichy authorities valued him at three cases of petrol - . Mr Sands was travelling by a Dutch ship which was torpedoed off the West African coast. After eight days in a lifeboat he and his fellow survivors were picked up and taken to French Guinea. They were then sent to Goulak, near Dakar. The French there handed Mr Sands over to the British Gambia authorities for three cases of petrol