SPANISH FLEETS

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 April 1937, Page 7

SPANISH FLEETS

BATTLE PREPARATIONS BLOCKADE DEVELOPMENTS [BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, April 14. The “Daily .'...Mail,”, tilye . “NewsChronicle,” and ' other Sources express the opinion that a battle in the Bay of Biscay is imminent, because the reconditioned loyalist fleet is heading northwards from its base at Cartagena. The Basque Government denies' that mines or a blockade, exist in Bilbao Harbour. It claims that. 19 Spanish and seven. British merchantmen safely used the harbour between April 1 and April 13. The correspondent of “The Times” at St. Jean de Luz says that grave exception is taken' there to Sir John Simon’s statement in the House of Commons that the insurgent fleet sank six ships. The only loss in these seas since the outbreak of hostilities was that of a small coastal ship, which was sunk by the trawler Galerna on April 12, 25 miles from Bilbao. It is stated that no merchantmen under -naval protection would suffer such a'fate.- ■_ - ■ ;;

A message from Salamailcd 'states' that the insurgents, have raised ..the loyalist submarine C 3, which sank ini 120 feet of water off Malaga in December. Twenty bodies were found inside. It is intended to repair the submarine for service in the insurgent fleet. AN EARLIER INCIDENT. • A LONDON, April 14. An incident which -is .alleged 'to have provoked the announcement of the blockade at Bilbao is reported' by the correspondent of “The Times” at St. Jean de Luz. He describes. the rescue by destroyers of the British, merchant siteamea- Thjorpe Hall, which was stopped by rebel warships off Bilbao on April 6‘. " ' ‘When the Thorpe Hall sent a wireless message for aid the British destroyers Blanche and Beagle proceeded at full speed to the scene. There, they found, four rebel ships surrounding the Thorpe Hall and the German warship Admiral Graf Spee, looking on. The destroyers, in spite of an approaching storm, cleared their decks' for action and dashed straight ahead. The" Blanche signalled' to the Thorpe Hall that she would be protected. The Admiral Graf Spee signalled back “Thank you,” and departed, the Spanish vessels following her example. The commander of the destroyer, flotilla, Commander Catron, later ordered all merchantmen to St. Jean d e Luz. Six vessels entered the port on the morning of April 9, followed by the destroyer flotilla. General Franco’s spies at St. Jean de Luz, observing this, reported that British destroyers, Were assembling to convoy and escort merchantmen 1 to Bilbao. General Franco immediately informed the British? Ambassador, Sir Henry Chilton, that Bilbao would be completely blockaded, and any "breach resisted whatever the consequences.

NO' MINES ALLEGED. (Recd. April 6, noon.) . LONDON, April 15. The consul at Bilbao informed the Foreign Office that the harbour entrance is free from mines. The shore batteries are adequate to defend territorial waters. The non-intervention control will operate at midnight on April 19. An adequate staff has reached the land frontiers to ensure effectiveness of control. The La Rochelle and Hood have arrived. Vice Admiral Blake proceeded to Hendaye to see the British Ambassador. DEAN’S APPEAL. PARIS, April 15. The Dean of Canterbury, interviewed on his arrival in Paris, said there was no danger of mines at Bilbao, whence he departed last week, in a French torpedo boat, the Aisne. “The only danger to British ships comes from the rebel fleet. I cannot imagine from which source Mr. Baldwin obtained his information about mines. Unless food reaches the town, women and children will certainly starve.” He added that many churches m Madrid were wholly or partly destroyed. Almost all were closed, but the Government hopes to reopen them. HIGH SEAS PROTECTION. LONDON, April 15. There was an important interlude in the Commons .debate, on Sir J. Simon’s announcement that a warning was sent that General Franco would be held responsible to damage to British ships. ‘ Mr. Lloyd George sprang to his feet and asked: If an insurgent warship tires on a British merchantman on the high seas,t will the Navy protect it? I Sir J. Simon replied: Yes, certainly.

POWERS CO-OPERATING. MR EDEN'S STATEMENT. [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY. April 15. Commenting’ on the voting on, the censure motion in the Commons, “The Times” says that seldom have figures more accurately represented' the real weight of the argument. Mr Eden who wound up the debate for the Government, in answer to a question which had been asked 1 about mines outside territorial waters, said the Government could give no guarantee what, action they would take, but if it became necessary for the protection of British ships to carry out mine-sweeping on the high seas, then His Majesty’s Government were certainly prepared to consider it. With regard to the non-intervention policy this was the only means at the British Government’s disposal to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond the borders of Spain. The Government had rot spared time, money, or endeavour to bring this scheme into operation at the earliest possible moment. He wished they could have dune this through the League organisation. but they could not as two important countries were, not members of the League, but not withstanding, something had been achieved. There were agreements about the supply of arms 1 and volunteers, and the observation scheme, and more might be achieved yet. Above all, they must work to prevent

i this dispute from spreading beyond Spain. y • ARBITRATION PROPOSALS. Referring to Mr Winston. Churchill’s appeal for-arbifeFa-tion for a settlement of the conflict, Mr Eden said that if ever-Britain could make a contribution to bring this conflict to an end, that contribution would be made not only readily, but eagerly. Mr Churchill, in putting forward his appeal for arbitration, said it was an encouraging fact that German, French, Russian, Italian and British naval officers were acting together in a way which represented the concert of Europe, aud was a shadow of the idea of foreign law. Why should not the five great Powers, whose fleets were now acting nominally in common policy, after agreeing secretly among themselves, offer a solution to the Spaniards. Such solution might extend over a period of six years in three stages. The first stage would give little more than peace, order and time to.cooLdown, with no vengeance and no executions, except for common non-political murders on either side. The second stage would consist of finding a compromise by whic& there might be formed a hybrid government of elements in Spain, that had not been involved in the ferocity of this struggle. The third stage would probably see a revival of those Parliamentary - institutions which he believed nineteen out of every twenty Spaniards never meant to lose or see destroyed.

WITHDRAWAL OF FOREIGNERS. RUGBY, April 15. The Chairman of the sub-committee of the Non-Intervention Committee appealed to the representatives on the committee to bring a spirit of goodwill to the solution of the problems with which they were faced. The Italian representative said he - was prepared to resume discussion on the withdrawal of volunteers from Spain. , .. .. . . The Russian representative, in, the same spirit, did not insist on discussion of the proposals he had made at the last plenary session. > . ■ The Committee agreed to appoint a technical advisory sub-committee to - prepare a scheme.for withdrawal from Spain of all persons now engaged, either directly or indirectly in the present conflict in that country, who were not of Spanish nationality, on July 18, 1936, and for the effective-, supervision of any such scheme of withdrawal. Before the Committee adjourned,;; the Italian representative announced that he proposed at once to submit .proposals for an extension of the Nonintervention agreement to the prohibition of entry into Spain of all persons of non-Spanish-.nationality, whose activities were calculated to prolong or embitter the. present conflict. FRENCH VOLUNTEERS. /■ RUGBY, April. 15.,.,. Asked whether he' was aware that '- the French volunteers and munitions of war were still being sent to Spain, to assist the Valencia Government, Lord Cranborne told the Commons that the Foreign Secretary had received no official reports which would confirm these allegations; He added, in reply to another question, that so far as he was aware, no communication alleging violations' of the non-intervention agreement, by either France or Russia, had been made to the International Committee by the Italian Government.