FRENCH PROTEST.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 232, 31 August 1937, Page 8

FRENCH PROTEST.

CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES

ON SANTANDER’S FALL.

Received August 31, 12.35 p.m. PARIS, Aug. 30.

The Government has decided to protest to tho Non-Intervention Committee against the exchange of congratulatory telegrams between General Franco and Signor Alussolini after the capture of Santander on the ground that the Duce’s action amounts to official intervention.

Signor Alussolini’s telegram expressed pleasure at the Italian legionairos’ efforts. '“This intimate fraternity in arms is a guarantee of tho final victory which will deliver Spain and the Alediterranean from the menaces against our common civilisation.”

At Madrid, claiming that the fall of Santander is not of first-rate importance, General Aliaja states: “The enemy has a geographical advantage in the north, but wherever wo are fighting on equal terms, namely, any region other than the north, wo have shown ourselves superior.” A message from Port Vendres states that a Spanish Government cargo boat, the Cuidnd De Reus, has arrived after being hit above the water-line by a shell from a submarine of unknown nationality.