PACT SIGNED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23830, 4 December 1940, Page 9

PACT SIGNED

BRITAIN AND SPAIN " PURELY ECONOMIC " FRANCO'S ASSURANCE WILL NOT ENTER WAR By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Deceived December 3, 6.50 p.m.) LONDON, Doc. 2 The British Ambassador to Spain, Sir Reginald Hoare. and the Spanish Foreign Minister, Sen or - Surier, signed to-day in Madrid an AngloSpanish financial agreement. The Daily Telegraph says it is emphasised in London that the agreement is purely economic, and there are no political 'clauses or understandings all ached. Spain is nevertheless fully aware that- the benefits of the agreement will cease if she throws in her lot with the Axis. General Franco recently gave an assurance to Britain and the United States that Spain should not enter the war nor allow it to spread to the peninsula.

PET AIN GOVERNMENT MOVE TO VERSAILLES LONDON*. Dec. 3 Mar-hal PetaiTri nnd the French Government are to move into occupied Prance and take tip residence in Versailles. A Vichy communique states that tin? Cabinet dealt with various questions, relating to the forthcoming transfer of the Chief of State to Versailles. FREE FRENCH FORCES COMMANDER AT NOUMEA SYDNEY, Dee. 3 Captain Broche, of Tahiti, has been named by General de Gaulle as Commander of the Free French forces m New Caledonia in place of Colonel Denis, who has returned to France. Captain. Broche has taken up duty at Noumea. He will recruit volunteers for General de Gaulle's forces.

GERMAN FREIGHTERS PURSUED BY WARSHIPS ATTEMPT TO REACH CUBA NEW YOKE, Dec. 2 A message from Havana says that the two German freighters, the Idarwald and the Ehein, which left Tarnpico, Mexico, at the week-end, are apparently trying; to reach a Cuban port. They are reported to he desperately attempting to communicate "with Mexican radio stations, saying that warships are pursuing them. A message, from Coqnimbo, Chile, says that the German merchantman Portland sailed, last. night, for .an .unannounced destination.

ACTION BY PERU PREVENTION OF SAILING (Received December 3, 6.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 3 The Peruvian Chamber of Deputies, according to a message from Lima, has passed a motion requesting the Foreign Office to deny the sailing authorisation for four German- ships, which hare been docked at Callao since the outbreak of war. It was argued that the vessels might violate Peru's neutrality and the American security zone by replenishing pirate raiders off the American coast. BRITAIN NOW IN LEAD AIRCRAFT PRODUCTION DESPERATE GERMAN ATTACKS LONDON, Dec. 3 The belief that Germany had realised • that at all costs she must check British aircraft production was expressed by the British Broadcasting Corporation's air observer. Mr. Oliver Stewart, today. This was reflected in the Jjeavy attacks recently on British industrial areas, he added. Mr. Stewart said Germany knew that British output now exceeded her own and that her numerical superiority - would be swept aside unless she could check British output. But she had not succeeded in doing so. J, Whereas Germany's output had been seriously clerked by bombing, said Mr. Stewart, that of Britain :had been subject to only slight checks, and production in the Dominions and theUnited States was increasing. GERMAN MENACE FORCES LARGELY INTACT WARNING GIVEN IN CANADA" Ottawa, Dec. 2 The Prime Minister. Mr. .L. Mackenzie King, warned the Canadian House of Commons that Germany, with her forces, machines and materials largely "intact, presented an "appallingmenace." "It is going fo take all vo can do and give to beat, them," he said. The Prime Minister dissociated himself completely from the statement of the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. R. B. Hanson, that the situation was graver now than formerly. He said that if the Government had yielded to public demand earlier in the year and sent thousands of men overseas., it would only have saddled Britain with an additional burden. Instead, a balanced programme of war production, coincident with the raising of the army, naval and air forces, had been worked out. NO GERMAN AIRLINE REJECTION BY BRAZIL RIO DE JAXIERO, Dec. 2 Brazil has notified the German-eon-trulled Condor Airline that the time it inopportune for a, transatlantic sen icß which the Condor organisation sought to establish.