NAZI PROTEST TO U.S.A.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 June 1941, Page 5

NAZI PROTEST TO U.S.A.

CLOSING OF CONSULATES [ REFERENCE BY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT l j Washington, June 17. L; The German official n:ws agency has i' stated that Germany has made a sharp . | protest to the United States against 7 1 the closing of German Consulates in :! the United States. At his Press conference to-day Mr ■ ■ Roosevelt said that the activities of I ! the German Consulates which had led . j him to order them to be closed were [! of a subversive character. The Presi- . j dent declined to amplify “subversive” . i beyond saying that it included “a great | many sins.” • j The German Government is to lake • j immediate steps against the property , : cf American citizens in the Reich. An ! announcement to this effect, made in ! Berlin, says it is a sequel to Mr Roose- , j veil's recent order freezing Axis credits. The announcement does not . specify the steps to be taken. SINKING OF ROBIN MOOR i The Government’s basic charges against the German sinking of the steamer Robin Moor are unchanged i by the arrival of the missing survivors , at Cape Town. i The State Department is awaiting a ; cabled summary of the testimony of the. 35 survivors. The Assistant Sccre- • tary of State. Mr Welles, said, however. that the depositions of the first rescued persons were sufficient for the j Government’s case. j President Roosevelt said the navy i new, as in every year since 1918, pos- ! sessed plans to provide arms for use ! by American merchant vessels for their j own defence. He added that so far j as he was concerned the plans were I still in the Navy Department’s safes, i thereby implying that he was not at I present putting his . lans into effect. CO-OPERATION WITH CANADA The State Department in Washington to-day announced that it would appoint joint United States-Canadian committees to advise on greater economic co-operation in defence production and also the reducing of postwar economic dislocation. Sepaking before a committee of the House of Representatives to-day. the Secretary of War Mr Stimson. said I that one of the benefits of the pro- | posed St. Lawrence sea-way would be the protection afforded to part of the j route for munitions for England. The | sea-way would take four years to j build, and in his opinion the war might last as long as that.—U.P.A. ! CERTAIN IMMIGRANTS TO BE BARRED 'Rec.. noon) Washington, June 18. The State Department instructed its representatives throughout the world to refuse visas to refugees with close relatives in Germany or Germancontrolled territories. This departure from the traditional policy of providing refuge for the oppressed is in consequence of the Nazi custom of forcing i refugees to become spies through j threats or actual torture of close relatives.

The slate department realises that th ; decision debars many otherwise eligible immigrants, but says it is necessary in view of the evidence that such Nazi terrorism is often worked to Germany's advantage.