GUNS NEAR GIBRALTAR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 231, 30 August 1937, Page 8

GUNS NEAR GIBRALTAR.

ANXIETY IN LONDON. M.P.’S SIGNIFICANT ARTICLE. LONDON, Aug. 1. The outstanding topic of conversation among members of the House of Commons on the eve of the adjournment was Gibraltar, and whether it is in peril. The refusal of the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affaire, Lord Cranborne, to say more than that there is no proof that any guns threaten the Rock .and Imperial communications is criticised by some. They want to know why Lord Cranborne did not say “no truth” instead of “no proof.” Members seem to be unsettled as a result of Mr Winston Churchill’s and Mr Lloyd George’s u-arnings against General Franco’s batteries and fortifications.

It is believed that the War Office is not saying all that could be said about the strength of Gibraltar, which is believed to have been brought up to date recently. On the other liana, it is known that certain well-informed persons in very close touch with the Admiralty state that unless in the event of war Britain can control not only Gibraltar, but the sea, and can have access to a strip of land on either side of the straits, her ships cannot freely pass into the Mediterranean. Support for this seems to be given by Mr Hamilton Kerr, Parliamentary private secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, in an article in the Daily Sketch. He says: “I am convinced that, in the event of a long war we will have to 6eize and occupy a strip of territory on either side of the straits. No hostile Power could then bring up new long-range guns, and we should be able to establish air bases. Gibraltar is so confined that ample space for an aerodrome is lacking.” One critic said: “The important question is whether, if Britain could close the. straits against ships entering the Mediterranean, could not a strong foreign Power allied to Spain, using submarines, torpedo - carrying aeroplanes, • and bombers, close the Mediterranean against Britain? To that there is neither an official nor an unofficial, nor even an interesting speculative answer, at present. “Among known facts are these: That the latest big guns can easily fire 20 miles and hit a target, and that the distance between Santa Catalina Point on the Moroccan side and the Rock is 15 miles.”