TOO EARLY FOR STATEMENT

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21969, 22 May 1941, Page 5

TOO EARLY FOR STATEMENT

Prime Minister On Hess Affair British Official Wireless RUGBY, May 20. Answering a series of questions on the Hess affair in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister (Mr Churchill) said that he was not in a position to make a statement, and he was not sure when he would be. As far as he had been advised, Hess was being treated as a prisoner of war and he would receive the treatment appropriate to a prisoner of war. Major Adams said: “While I fully appreciate the need for discretion In this matter, has the Government actively In mind the possibility that the whole stunt may be of the common or garden plant variety, and also, Will you discourage sections of the press from renewing their nauseating rhapsodies on this bloodstained crook?” Mr Churchill replied: “I certainly do not feel that I ought to detract in any way from the vehemence of Major Adams’s statement.” Asked if he noticed a press description of Hess as an idealist, Mr Churchill replied: “I do not think that I can indulge in this retrospective censorship of the press. The Germans gave different guidance every day, and the press naturally endeavoured to satisfy the public by recording all kinds of details that came to their hands, it seems to me that the whole episode has been entertaining as well as important.” Air General Willibald Spang, head of the Luftwaffe’s meteorological office. Is now Implicated in the Hess affair, states the “Daily Express.” Hess carried weather charts which must have been calculated by an expert weather man. The Gestapo has ordered a thorough Investigation of Air General Spang’s staff and unless Air General Spang produces the culprit he is likely to be removed.