News In A Nutshell

Northern Advocate, 20 February 1939, Page 7

News In A Nutshell

Herr Kundt, deputy leader of the Sudeten Nazis, declared that the minimum demands of Germans living in Czechoslovakia were freedom to live in accordance with Nazi laws 7 and to administer their own affairs and obey justice as they conceived it.

Under the auspices* of the AntiSlavery and Aborigines Protection Society, nine peers, six prelates, Including the Archbishop of Canterbury ! and the Archbishop of Westminster, many members of the Free Church and of the House of Commons, have asked the Prime Minister, ’Mr Chamberlain, to regard as vital the wishes and welfare of inhabitants, which can ] be ascertained by a commission, in considering a transfer of'colonial territory in connection with possible German demands.

The resignation of General Krejci, chief of the General Staff, is only one of many signs of the complete reorganisation and drastic reduction of the Czechoslovak army, which- the Government is now effecting. The ofr fibers’ corps has been almost halved, and defence estimates in the Budget have been reduced by ohe billion Czech crowns to 1,401,060,000 compared with 1938.

Practically every Royal Air Force . machine based on Singapore was‘used in a search of the seas in a radius of ,'i 100 miles on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, after a report from the Naval Intelligence Service that two submarines of an unknown nationality, but believed to be German, were cruising in local waters. No trace of submarines was found. • • «** v * * An attachment order has been, issued against the person of Charles Bedaux, the American “efficiency” expert and a friend of the Duke arid Duchess of Windsor. The order was issued on the application of Mr Robert McChesney, former manager of the Bedaux Company of Africa, recover' £2500 of the company’s stock, allegedly held by Mr Bedaux for the company. Mr, Bedaux was released after giving security.

The Minister of War. Lieutenant Itagaki, in the Diet, said the. Japanese army must be built up in qualify and quantity. The future might demand that every Japanese become a soldier. There was also need to improve Japan’s armaments and tactics.

The Chinese claim to have surprised a Japanese garrison in a sudden attack and to have recaptured the strategic city of Hukowsien, dominating the northern end of Ppylang Lake. They can now threaten Japanese shipping on the Yangtse, and also bottle- - up Japanese warships. « • • •

Excitement was caused when Secret Service men detected a stranger moving furtively in the Underground near President Roosevelt’s train at Kew West, because of an attempt made on his life in Florida in 1933. Police rushed to the spot, While the Secret Service men doubled their guard round the train. Local police perched on top of telegraph posts directed a fruitless search for the man. The authorities concluded that the man was merely a sightseer who fiad evaded the protected cordons. .

The diplomatic correspondent of “The Times” says the trade talks between Britain and Germany will be on a larger scale than previously announced. The Parliamentary Secretary for Overseas Trade, Mr. R. S. Hudson, and the president of the Board of Trade, Mr Oliver Stanley, are going to Berlin at the- same time as the British Industries Federation Mission, before which there will be investigations by the embassy commercial staff.

The hangar of the Middle District Aero Club at Milson aerodrome, and three aeroplanes that were housed in it, were destroyed by fire. Housed in the hangar were a Porterfield monoplane .and two Tiger Moths, wihch were completely destroyed. The Moths were valued at £I4OO each, and the Porterfield at £IOOO.