DIVIDED COUNSELS IN GERMANY

Southland Times, Issue 23988, 1 December 1939, Page 8

DIVIDED COUNSELS IN GERMANY

POSITION OF ALLIES IMPROVING (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, November 29. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Simon, speaking at a luncheon in London today, said that the war had not developed in the way originally expected with a great battle on the Western Front and aerial attacks on London. Nonetheless the three months had provided material froiri which to make deductions and on which to form a judgment as to the ultimate prospects. It could not be doubted that German strategy had been beset with divided counsels. If Herr Hitler had relied on his Foreign Minister, Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop, for expert advice about the British people the German Chancellor must have had a shattering Piling. In the meantime, Sir John claimed, the position of the Allies was improving week by week. The numbers in the Expeditionary Force in France were growing and would rapidly grow. The British Navy had resumed its immortal role of holding the seas and protecting British commerce. As to the air, there was a conviction steadily growing that British pilots and machines were more than a match for those opposed to them. Sir John concluded by a reference to the quiet sense of determination and resolve marking the British men and women today. There was no boasting. There was no frantic demonstration, but there was a deep and pervading sense that victory had to be secured or else life would not be worth living. GERMAN SYMPATHY WITH RUSSIA ATTITUDE OF BENEVOLENT NEUTRALITY NEW YORK, November 29. The Berlin correspondent of The New York Times, Brooks Peters, says that Moscow’s diplomatic rupture will find Germany wholly sympathetic with the aims of the Soviet. The opinion expressed in the Wilhelmstrasse indicates that the Reich will maintain an attitude of benevolent neutrality, meaning that Germany will stand aside to allow Russia a free hand, as she feels morally aligned with the Soviet, whose attitude to Finland is considered comparable with the Reich’s viewpoint of the Rhineland under the Treaty of Versailles. Whether Russia and Germany will consult over the crisis in the north under their non-aggression pact is not yet decided. STEAMER STRIKES MINE AND SINKS LONDON, November 29. The steamer Rubislaw, laden with cement, struck a mine off a south-west coastal port and sank in two minutes. Thirteen members of the crew are dead. BRITISH SAVINGS CERTIFICATES HEAVY DEMAND BY SMALL INVESTORS (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, November 28. Small investors, who have been given the first opportunity in this war of contributing to the national funds, have been quick to respond and heavy demands have been made for national savings certificates and the prospectus for defence bonds. Meanwhile, the formation of new national savings groups is rapidly proceeding, many large firms which in peace time organized their own savings schemes for their employees are now making arrangements to save for investment in Government securities. One of the large banks stated that up to November 26 it had issued through its branches defence bonds free of income tax, and of which no person can hold more than 500, to a total value of £365,390. The same bank sold £463,860 of 15/- unit savings certificates of the new issue. FRENCH COMMUNIST LEADER THOREZ SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT PARIS, November 28. A court-martial sitting at Amiens sentenced to six years’ imprisonment the Co 'munist leader, M. Maurice Thorez; for failing to answer the call to the colours when mobilization was decreed. The court-martial also ordered the confiscation of the prooerty of Thorez, who vanished following the suppression of-the Communist Party.