BRITAIN’S BLOCKADE ACTIVITIES

Evening Star, Issue 22629, 22 April 1937, Page 11

BRITAIN’S BLOCKADE ACTIVITIES

GOVERNMENT ACTION DEFENDED M OTHER COURSE BUT TO WARN SHIPPING CMTICIBM FMM LABOUR BENCHES (British Official Wireless.) Pr*M Association —By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, April, 20. Speaking during the debate on the Bilbao situation, Sir Samuel Hoare said he wanted to make it clear that the« Royal Navy was able and ready to carry out any policy adopted by the Government. Information from various sources went to show that for the first time in the Spanish Civil War no side had succeeded in isolating and investing by land and sea any particular part of Spanish territory. That created a new situation in connection with the policy of non-intervention. As to the blockade of Basque ports, advice received from these sources indicated that, while the conditions varied from time to time, an effective blockade had been established by the insurgent Beet,. which had a concentration of one battleship, one cruiser, one destroyer, and several armed merchantmen, against which the Government forces consisted only of one destroyer, one submarine, and one armed trawler, and that the insurgent vessels were able to operate freely inside territorial waters. Information about mines was necessarily less precise, but the (British merchant ship Olavus, which left Bilbao only a few days ago, had reported just missing a mine. Believing the position to be dangerous for merchant shipping, what other action, Sir Samuel asked, could the Government have taken than warn British merchant ships of the dangers and advise them against taking serious risks, while at the same time assuring them of naval protection on the high seas, and informing General Franco that that protection would be given? To fail to advise the shipping of the dangers would not have been honourable, and to have used force to secure passage of the blockade woiiM have endangered the non-inter-vention agreement. There was no issue, the Minister insisted, between the Government and the Opposition as to protection of British ships on the high seas. That protection would be given in the form considered most' advisable. Convoy to the limits of territorial waters was neither consistent with the Government attitude in giving the advice it had, nor, incidentally, was it necessarily the best form of protection for a ship seeking to run - the blockade. Opening the debate, Mr A. V. Alexander (Lab.) said that the body, of opinion irT the country concerned with defence, liberty, and justice regarded the attitude of the Government as foreign to the best British tradition. He questioned the existence of an effective blockade at Bilbao, and cited in support statements in a telegram received from a passenger on the British merchant ship Seven Seas Spray, which made an uneventful passage into Bilbao. Mr Lloyd George complained that the Government’s action regarding Bilbao had given the impression that it had taken sides in the Spanish War. The Foreign Secretary (Mr Anthony Eden) wound .up the debate. He said the crucial question was whether the Government, was justified in warning British ships as it had done, and he claimed, on the information it had before it, that it could have taken no other course. The Opposition motion was defeated. CATTAM MKRTS'S TRIUMPH FETED IN BILBAO. BILBAO, April 20. Captain Roberts, his daughter Fili, and the crew were feted everywhere. Everything was ready for their arrival. The . coastal batteries were manned, aeroplanes performed aerobatics, and destroyers and armed trawlers escorted th« vessel to her berth in triumph, ignoring the Espana Cervera, 15 miles offshore. The militia presented arms as Captain Roberta proudly megaphoned: “Make her fast as she lies, Mister Bosun.” Describing his departure from St. Jean de -Luz, Captain Roberts said: “ An F class destroyer (one of those relieving the B class flotilla)' wirelessed: ' ‘ Whither bound? ’ We said; ‘ Bilbao.’ The destroyer asked: ‘ On your own responsibility? ’ ‘Yes,’ we said. ‘Good luck,’ the destroyed replied.” A flotilla consisting of the Firedrake, the Fortune, the Fury, and the Forester, has relieved the Braken, the Brilliant, and the Beagle. FRANCO SEERS UNITY “ SPANISH TRADITIONAL PHALANX.” LONDON April 21. The * Daily Telegraph’s ’ Salamanca correspondent says General Franco has issued a decree for a merger of Phalangists and Carlists in “ a Spanish traditional phalanx.” This is tantamount to a British wartime leader merging

the Conservatives and Labour supportters in one organisation. General Franco also makes his first reference to the restoration of the Monarchy. “ When we complete our spiritual and material advance we shall not close the door to the possibility of reinstating the regime which forged out; national unity and history.” PROSECUTIONS IN IRAQ SEQUEL TO DESPATCH OF ARMS. BAGDAD, April 20. The Prime Minister,, Hikmat Sulieman, informed Parliament of the dismissal of the Iraqi Legation councillors at Berlin and Paris—namely, Abdul Azis A 1 Mudhaffar and Musa A 1 Shahundar, for respectively, without authority, despatching : arms in the name of the Iraqi Government to the loyalist and rebel Governments in Spain. Both will he prosecuted after their return to Iraq. GOVERNMENT BOMBERS ATfACK ON TOLEDO. MADRID, April 21. The Government claims that bombers set fire to the insurgents’ arms factory at Toledo, which is blazing fiercely. HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE OPPOSITION DEFEATED ON DIVISION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, April 21. (Received April 22, at noon.) The debate on the British Government’s action in regard to the protection of shipping on the north coast of Spain, which was raised in the House of Commons on a motion for adjournment, was carried to a division, which resulted in the defeat of the Opposition by 119 votes to 49. Mr Eden, who wound up the debate, said there would be protection on the high seas for British ships, the nature of which must be left to the Admiralty, but no one had suggested it was the duty of the Government to escort ships right into territorial waters to the ports they wanted to reach. If ships cared to take the risk against the advice of the Government they were entitled to do so. They would be protected up to the three miles limit. Afterwards, however, that would be a matter that depended on the defences of the Basque or the Spanish Governments. Questioned regarding the seizure by the Spanish insurgents of two Spanish ships carrying British-owned cargo and a cargo- of iron ore destined for England, the Foreign Secretary replied that the insurgent authorities had agreed in one case to hand over the .cargo to-‘the British authorities. The British Ambassador was renewing his representations in the other case. RBAR OF BATTLE ACTIVITY AT BILBAO. LONDON, April 21. (Received April 22, at 12.45 p.m.) A message from Bilbao says that the return of fine weather resulted in the air reverberating to the roar of battle west of Bilbao. Rebel planes sprayed the Government position on the hillsides, after which massed batteries roared into action, including new German heavy guns, while rebel cruisers bombarded the shore batteries.

Senor Marquesa Torecilla, when informed of the death of his third son to he killed in action, insisted on seeing the body. He exclaimed: “That is how a true Spaniard should die. I am proud that I offered him to Spain.”