SWEDEN’S DANGER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 11 January 1940, Page 5

SWEDEN’S DANGER

RELIANCE ON FINNISH DEFENCES The chief of the Swedish Military School has stated that if the Russians are not stopped at the Karelian Isthmus, Sweden will be in danger. Even if there were no immediate attack on Sweden, assuming that Finland was conquered, he said, it would mean that the Russians were biding their time. “We know from the years 1809 to 1918 what it is to have the Russian border close to ours. We do not want that situation again.” The Stockholm radio has announced that the Swedish Parliament passed a series of emergency measures at an extraordinary session, which are applicable in war or a threat of war. These give the Government special facilities for combating espionage, enforcing censorship and detaining suspected persons.—By radio. NO MUSTARD GAS HAS EVER BEEN USED BY ROYAL NAVY THE GRAF SPEE ALLEGATION (Received 11th January. 12.0 p.m.) RUGBY, 10th January. It may be recalled that attempts were made by the propaganda authorities in German* to explain away the defeat of the Admiral Graf Spee in alleging that the British cruisers used mustard gas These allegations were denied at the time by the British Admiralty which stated that no mustard gas grenades or shells had ever been made for or used by the Royal Navy The charges were however, repeated and an attempt was made to give them substance by citing the opinion of a German Uruguayan. Dr Walter Meerhof, whose Nazi proclivities are wellknown in Montevideo and who by his own admission based his opinion on the testimony of photographers. BASELESS CHARGES The report of the medical commission officially appointed by the Uruguayan Ministry of National Defence, particulars of which reached London to-day. finally disposes of these baseless charges. The document boars nine signatures and reads as follow*: ‘After the careful examination of all wounded and sick from the battleship Admiral Graf Spee treated in a military hospital and in the Pasteur Hospital. the special technical commission appointed by the Director-General of the Army Medical Corps declares that it ha;- found not the slightest lesion or symptoms which could give rise to suspicion that they had been affected by war gases.”