CZECHS MURDERED

Grey River Argus, 19 March 1941, Page 6

CZECHS MURDERED

TOTAL OF 4,000 REPORTED. (Received March 18, 9 p.m.) MONTREAL, March 17. Senator Vojta Benes, the brother of the Czechoslovakian President, in a broadcast here, charged the Nazis with murdering four thousand prominent Czechoslovaks. He said that the Gestapo tortured prisoners to death. CZECHS REASSURED BY MINISTER OF ECONOMIC WARFARE RUGBY, March 17. The Minister of Economic Warfare, Mr Hugh Dalton, speaking at a luncheon given by the First Artillery Detachment of the First Czechoslovak Brigade, said: “I remember Dr. Benes saying to me in 1934, when Hitler’s blood-stained hands had held power for a year, ‘lf war should come, I know that where England is there is victory.’ I recalled those words with a sense of shame in September, 1938. I recall them now with a thrill of pride. I have seen to-day some Czechoslovak troops, sturdy and resolute, who will play their part in the winning of the war and liberating their countrymen from the bestial Germany tyranny which to-day holds them in its grip. Alter you regained freedom in 1918, you tasted twenty years of freedom, and achieved great things in many fields. You set a civilised example which our German enemies of to-day might well have followed. Your freedom and your right to live your own national life shall be restored to you in a new Europe of to-morrow. But, in that hew Europe, as the bitter history of many generations shows, no State can safely stand alone, least of all if it has Germans for neighbours. I wish, therefore, to congratulate most warmly Dr. Benes and General Sikorsky on the intimate collaboration of the Czechoslovak and Polish Governments. A close Polish-Czechoslovak union would not only have great, value in itself, but might become the nucleus of a much wider federal structure in Central Europe.”

NEW HOSPITAL SHIP

HANDSOME DUTCH OFFER In offering the new Dutch motor liner, the Orange, to the British Government for use as a hospital ship, the Netherlands Indian Government suggested that she might be used principally for conveying sick and wounded from the Middle East to Australia and New Zealand. Thus the Dominion is especially interested in this handsome vessel which went into commission only a short lime before the war started Built for service between Holland and the East Indies, the Orange is particularly suited to the hospital service proposed for her, and she includes so many of the latest ideas ■ that she may be described as the last word in pre-war luxury liners. Hie Orange was built in Amsterdam and her machinery came from Switzerland. She was launched by Queen Wilhelmina on September 8, 1938, being taken over by the Netherlands Steamship Company in the following July. With attractive lines and a distinctive funnel she is a handsome vessel, and has a good turn of speed, given by three single-working diesel motors, each of twelve cylinders, driving three propellers. Special attention was given in the design to the provision of watertight compartments so that in tne event of the hull being torn the vessel! will float despite a very big leak. All water-tight doors are controlled from the bridge. The spacious decks give accommodation, the top deck being wholly used for passengers. ±iie modern practice of making the higher decks 1 shorte r than the underlying ones' yields a large area of open-air deck, which will be advantageous to a hospital ship. Part of the passenger accommodation—a number of cabins, dining saloons and shopping centre—is air-conditioned, so that the Orange is adapted for a service marked by a wide range of temperatures. Five electrically-driven lifts are used to facilitate traffic between decks and the most modern safety installations and equipment are features of the Orange’s design. Great historical associations suggested by the vessel’s name were' made the principal motifs of her in-' terior decoration which is lavish In marble reliefs, in reproduced tapestries and in murals, the House of Orange is represented. A hint of the vessel’s rich interior is given by the fact that her decks are not indicated alphabetically as is usually the case. They are known by the colour dominating the cabins of each of them. There are no pipes, tubes or wires in sight anywhere, and a special feature is the lighting system. Iced-water fountains are distributed throughout the ship. The Orange was built to accommodate 747 passengers and a crew of 380, and to give comfort conditions for people travelling'’ from the North Sea to the tropics, through the Red Sea, and as a hospital ship she wm evoke in many New, Zealand hearts a new admination for.; the House of ’ Orange. \