DANUBE BLOCKED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23545, 4 January 1940, Page 7

DANUBE BLOCKED

NUMEROUS ICE-FLOES I WORRY FOR GERMANS VITAL TRAFFIC SUSPENDED ATTEMPT TO FREE RIVER By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright BUCHAREST, Jan. 2 The Rumanian Government's suspension for the winter of navigation permits on the Danube, which is strewn with ice, has handicapped German trade. Ice-floes block the river from the Black Sea to the frontier of Yugoslavia, and the Germans are worried by the interruption of traffic on the river, which is now the chief channel for Balkan exports to Germany, including 80 per cent of Rumanian oil and nearly all Rumanian cereals. A single-track railway across Hungary is taking live-stock, beans, maize and secondary goods, as the BucharestBreslau line through Lwow, in Poland, has been almost at a standstill since the Russian occupation of East Poland. Snowstorms arid roaming wolf packs hinder traffic in Western and Northern Rumania. The Germans may use icebreakers and dynamite in an attempt to free the Danube.

KING VISITS TROOPS SOUTHERN COMMAND TOUR IN TWO COUNTIES ENTHUSIASTICALLY CHEERED British Wireless LONDON, Jan. 2 The King paid a visit to-day to the troops of the Southern Command. Ho was met by a parade of 4000 men, who greeted him with a hurst of cheering. After inspecting this centre and talking with many of the officers and men, His Majesty drove in a- camouflaged car to a number of small villages in the area where the units had been stationed. At each place the King left the car and walked down the lines, and at one place he walked more than a mile along a road lined with enthusiastically cheering men. At this point His Majesty's only escort was a crowd of evacuated children, who followed closely behind him. His Majesty's tour took him through two counties and occupied most of the day.

DUAL ESPIONAGE MORAVIAN BARON ARREST IN SWITZERLAND (Received January 3, 5.46 p.m.) ZURICH, Jan. 2 A Moravian baron has been sentenced to 38 months' imprisonment. It was alleged that he was employed by both the British and the Gorman intelligence services. The police said that anonymous 1 money orders arrived for the baron from Berlin and London. A horse-dealer has been sentenced to seven months in gaol. According to the evidence, ho worked for the French Secret Service in co-operation with the baron, but had no knowledge of the baron's other connections. The police will not disclose the names of the prisoners. TRADE DISCUSSIONS BRITAIN AND DENMARK (Received January 3, 6.50 p.m. ) British Wireless LONDON, Jan. 2 Prince Axel of Denmark and M. Otto Mohr, leaders of the Danish delegation, returned to London to-day to resume the Anglo-Danish trade negotiations. The rest of the Danish delegation is expected to arrive in London at the end of the week.

GERMAN MIGRATION RUSSIAN AREA OF POLAND (Received January 3, 6 p.m.) BERLIN. Jan. 2 It is stated that 20,405 members of the German minority from Russianoccupied Poland have arrived in camps near Lodz. SWEDISH SHIP SUNK ESTONIAN VESSEL MISSING LONDON, .Tan. 2 The Swedish steamer Lars Magnus Trozelli (1955 tons) has been sunk by a mine off the east coast of England. A message from Talinn says the Estonian steamer Minn (1173 tons), with a crew of 17, bound for the North Sea, has not reported since December 11.