HELD AS CRIMINAL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 141, 16 May 1941, Page 5

HELD AS CRIMINAL

ATTITUDE TO HESS,

ATROCITIES REMEMBERED. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (Rec. 12 noon) LONDON. May 15 An Associated Press correspondent says it is learned from a high-placed official that the Government regards Hess not only as a prisoner of war but in the same category as the Nazi criminals responsible for the bloodshed, suffering and misery in Czechoslovakia, Poland and elsewhere.

Hess is still kept isolated in a room in the hospital with an officer in attendance and guards nearby. Hia condition is reported to be improving rapidly.

ft is understood the Duke of Hamilton Hew to Glasgow and saw Hess within 48 hours ol his arrival and a report of the interview was forwarded to London. It is expected that Mr Churchill will deal with its subject matter when he makes a statement in the House of Commons.

The British United Press reports that Berlin officials angrily deny reports of Nazis undertaking a house-to-house canvass in order to reassure the Germans about the Hess affair, but they admit "a few members of the party mav have talked the matter over with their neighbours."

INSIDE GERMANY

WHAT HESS REVEALS. "FED UP WITH WAR." LONDON, May lu. Rudolf Hess has declared that he is fed up with the war and with life in , Germany. He is stated to be both talki nig and writing freely as he reeuperj ates in the military hospital. The Foreign Office representative, Mr Ivone Kirkpatriek, has sent further reports of his conversations with Hess to London, where they arc now i bei.ng studied by the Ministers, So far there is no official indication that Hess | has made any sensational statements; Ito the Britisii officials, though the ! i Daily Mail says that, acting as he j seems to, have done without Hitler's! permission, Hess has undoubtedly re-1 vealed to the British Government the present state of affairs in Germany | and inside the Nazi Party. j The United Press Association lobbyist says there" is a great deal of objec- ; ; tion in Westminster to a suggestion that Mr Churchill should interview ; Hess, and such a meeting seems un--1 likely. It is argued that it would be | hardly fitting to honour in such a | manner tin's unconventional visitor I who for so long ha.s played a full part I in supporting all the reprehensible in-1 letitutions-*-the Gestapo, the concen- I Itration camps, and the persecution ot i i the Jews —of a country that is now I ; warring against Britain. ] "VALUABLE INFORMATION." The tide of interest in the motive of , , Hess received new impetus when it. ' was reported that he told the farm j people when he landed in Scotland of j the hardships that are being experi-| enced in Germany and also of the! great distress and suffering prevailing; i among the German people as a result 1 of the Royal Air Force raids against! j the towns. Hess. according to the reI port, added that he made the Duke of Hamilton's estate his objective be(cause he had valuable information to ! ;givo the Duke, information which, would be of great use to Britain i.n overthrowing the tyrannv now prevail- 1 J ing in the Reich. (He landed only 13 | miles from the Duke's castle.) Hess also said he had made most painstaking preparations for the flight from Germany. This statement is I borne out by his maps, on which alii the > Duke's estates are ringed with a iblue pencil. It is thought tliat he mis-' jtoolc a large house for the Duke's mansion. According to Mr McLean,! •the ploughman who found him, Hess!. I seemed most anxious to meet the Duke. ; | Officials in Berlin declared that]' Hess, in his papers which are now being examined, said he expected to re- ' turn to Germany in two days. "The! J papers reveal that ho expected the ' Britisii to supply him with enough pet-, rol for a return flight after he had' convinced them of the folly of their. j rulers." the Berlin statement said. ■' "Hess has had no knowledge of the! war plans of Germany's military lead- ! ers. He is, however, acquainted with! German information that the war will ! end not only in the defeat but also in the destruction of England." The-* officials added that Hess wrote saying j' that he did not want to speak to Mr ' Churchill in any circumstances. ; l The present German story is that , Hess. who was actuated purely by humane considerations, is stili a good 1 German as well as a National Social-

TIMELY ADVICE. | J I Sir Patrick Dollan. the Lord Provost' 1 of Glasgow, 6aid to-day: "Too much j n ■sentiment should not be displayed over: j the arrival of the Deputy Fuehrer, and j the British people should not forget that 14 countries have been overrun! i and crucified largely as a result of j l : Hess's plotting. He has come to Bri-; ■ tain not for love of us, but for love of |his own skin." j Addressing the .English-speaking! : Union/ to-day. Mr Eden, the Foreign i - : Secretary, said that a small group of!" | men possessed of immense military e I power were -trying to impose theirMrule by force upon all civilisation. In r? (these circumstances, there was bound i Ito be stress and strain among that j c (small group, and in that might be j i found, in part at least, an explanation j ■of the parachute descent which had i j electrified the world last week-end. • | I Officers of the special branch of ! \ j Scotland Yard have to-day been check- | ' |ing all arrivals at the military hospi- j . I tal where Hes 6 is. ~ j The remains of Hc6s's plane will be *; : exhibited in London during the "War . Weapons Week" l>egi.uning on May 17. I Had Hess reached the Duke of Ham- t ■ ilton's mansion he would have found i him away fighting with the R.A.F. iJ. ;The Duke is now an air commodore in' ! the R.A.F. and Dungave] is used u L a military convalescent hospital. The Duke rarely visits there. j Q Mr McLean, the Scottish ploughman j ? who found Hess, resented being filmed by ncwsrcel men and went on plough- j. iiig. Mr McLean's mother received a telegram from a New York woman signing herself Sarah Lynn, which read: "You did a magnificent job. I Hurrah for the Scotch! I'm one!" Mrs; McLean's terse comment was: "That (1 woman has more siller than sense."