THE PALOS AFFAIR

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 155, 29 December 1936, Page 7

THE PALOS AFFAIR

SETTLEMENT WITHOUT FORCE

GERMANY'S HOPES

(Received December 29, 9.30 a.m.)

BERLIN, December 28.

It is officially learned that measures regarding the seizure of the German ship Palos will probably be announced today or' tomorrow. It is generally agreed that warships have been sent to Bilbao; but their orders are not revealed.

It is reported from Bayonne that a Basque Government official states that the Palos was carrying contraband. Th^ captain refused to explain his cargo between the time he was summoned to • stop and its arrival at Bilbao, and is alleged to have destroyed compromising documents. It is also stated that two passengers, a Spaniard and a German woman from Melilla, were unable satisfactorily to account for themselves. (Received December 29, noon.) BERLIN, December 28. The latest aspect of the situation concerning the Palos indicates that Germany hopes to settle the affair without force, the disposition today being to minimise the affair as a mere incident, which strikingly contrasts with the outspoken utterances on December 26. The Ministerial spokesman now declares that no fresh Avar vessels have been sent to Spain from Germany, though two or three are near Bilbao in the course of routine patrol.

The German Press maintains complete silence.

A Berlin message published yesterday announced that Germany had issued an ultimatum to the Spanish Government demanding the release of the German freighter Palos (977 tons), which was seized outside Spanish waters, although the cargo was allegedly not war materials, and was threatening reprisals if the demand was ignored. According to a Spanish report a cargo of contraband for the insurgents was being unloaded at Bilbao.