SPANISH FIGHTING

Grey River Argus, 23 April 1937, Page 5

SPANISH FIGHTING

BILBAO SIEGE Rival Bombings (Aus & N.Z Cable Assn.) MADRID, April 21. Batteries situated at Casadelcampo fired three hundred shells at Madrid, killing twenty-live and wounding s ixiy people. LONDON, April 21. A message from Bilbao says thaf the return o f fine weather resulted in the air reverberating to the roar of battle, west of Bilbao. Rebel planes sprayed the Government posmon on the hillsides, after which massed batteries roared into action, including new Ger. man heavy guns, while -rebel cruisers bombarded the shore batteries. MADRID. April 21.

Government claims that bombers fir. led the insurgents’ arms factory at Toledo, which is blazing fiercely. Marquesa Torecilla, when informed of the death of his third son to be killed in action at Bilbao, insisted on seeing the body. He exclaimed: “That is how a G'ue Spaniard should die. 1 am proud' I offered him to Spain.”

To Run Blockade several ships ready. LONDON, April 21 • “The Times’’ St Jean de Luz correspondent says there has now begun here an assembly of steamers that aie en route foif Northern Spanish portsThe vessel here include the Greek ship Pegasos and the British ships Stanbrook and Stassos- These movements coincide with the skippers reaching a conviction that the rebel blockade is ineffective regarding mines, the only dangei' being from the insurgent eituisers, but other vessels have shown that these can be dodged. The Royal Oak, under Rear Admiral Ramsey, will sail from Devonport on April 24, to relieve the Hood, which will return to Portsmouth, fo prepare for the naval review. ADMIRALTY TO CONVOY RUNNERS. BORDEAUX, April 21The Admiralty has decided to convoy to the three mile line outside of Bilbao two merchantmen, the MacGregor (Captain Owen Jones) and the Hamsterley (Captain Still) which are now in St Jean de Luz- Captain Roberts’ achievement has obviously fired Captains Jones and Still to emulation. DEAN OF CANTERBURY. PROPOSAL TO RUN SHIP TO BILBAO. (Received April 22, 7-5 p-m.) April 21The Dean of Canterbury has issued an appeal for £lO,OOO to enable a Cardiff-owmed steamer to go to Bilbao with food within ten daysMOVIE ACTOR’S CLAIM AND DENIAL. HOLLYWOOD, April 21. The Knights of Columbus hav e announced here that they are investigating alleged radical activities on the part of the film actor Errol Flynn. The investigation is based on an interview at Barcelona with Flynn, he ostensibly saying that he and Frederic March and Cagney raised fifteen hundred thousand dollars in Hollywood, for the Spanish loyalists. Flynn has since denied this. Ex-Napier Man DEATH IN MADRID FORCENAPIER, April 22. News received in Napier to-day recorded the death, near Madrid,, of Fred Robertson, at one time a hospital employee and. later caretaker of the aerodrome at Napier. Deceased was a seafaring man, and had tried his hand at all sorts of occupations in many lands- He was born in EgyptAt the. time of the Napier earthquake he was at Napier Hospital, where he earned high praise for work done immediately following that tragic disaster. He ‘ left Napier a year ago for; England, where his father lived- From there he went to help the loyal forces in Spain. He, was badly wounded on February 15 last, during a counter-at-tack against General Franco’s menHe was left on the battlefield, when the defenders of Madrid retired- It is reported he was later slain when rebels refused to take prisoners.. A few weeks ago advice was received here that his father had died, leaving him a fair sum of money, and seeking his address. BRITISH BLOCKADE DEBATE LONDON, April 21. Questioned in the Commons, regarding the seizure by Spanish insurgents of two Spanish ships carrying Britishowned cargo and a cargo of iron orc destined for England, the Foreign Secretary replied that the insurgent authorities had agreed in one case to hand over her cargo to British authori. ties. The British Ambassador was renewing representations in the other

Speaking in a debate on the Bilbao situation, raised on a motion for an adjournment moved in the House of Commons by the Opposition, Sir Samuel Hoare. First Lord of the Admiralty, said that the Navy was able and ready to carry out any policy dopted bv the Government. Information from various sources went t'o show that for the first time in the Spanish civil war one side had succeeded in isolating and investing by land and sea a particular part of the Spanish territory. That created a new situation in the policy of nonintervention. Advice received from the Basque ports indicated that though the conditions varied from time to time, an effective blockade had been established by the insurgent fleet, 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 th'aw. ler, and that the insurgent vessels were able to operate freely inside the 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 and

believed the position dangerous for

merchant shipping. ■ ' i ' ! “What other action,” Sin Samuel Hoare asked, “could the Government have taken than to warn British mer. chant ships of the dangers and advise them against taking serious risks, at the same time assuring them of naval protection on the high seas and also informing General Franco that that protection would be given? To fail to advise shipping of the dangers would not have been honourable; to have used force to secure a passage of the blockade would have endangered the •non-intervention agreement.” There was no issue, the Minister in. sisited, between the Government and the Opposition about the protection of British ships on the high seas. That protection would be given in the form considered most advisable. A convoy to the limits of the territorial waters was neither consistent with the Government’s 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. Alex, ander (Labour), a former First Lord of the Admiralty, said the body of opinion in t.'he country concerned with the defence of liberty and justice, regarded the attitude of the Government as foreign to the best 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 Brit, ish merchant ship Seven Seas. Spray, made <an uneventful passage into Bilbao.

Mr Ll(oyd George complained' than the Government’s action had given the impression that! they had taken sides in the Spanish war. The Foreign Secretary (Mr Eden), who wound up the debate, said that the crucial question was whether the Government was justified in the warning it gave the British ships, and he claimed that on the information received fhe Government! conild have taken no other course. The Opposition motion was defeated. SYDNEY, April 22. Ramon Mas, a Spanish resident of ISyldtney, received a cablegram from Senor Azgarate, Ambassador for Spain in London, appointing him as actingConsul for Spain in Sydney. He succeeds Senor Daban.