BILBAO REFUGEES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 101, 30 April 1937, Page 7

BILBAO REFUGEES

PROMPT RESPONSE TO THEIR APPEAL FOR HELP BRITAIN’S NATION-WIDE MOVE. SHIPS FOR EVACUATION. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) Received April 29, 8.40 p.m. LONDON, April 28. The despairing appeals to Britain and France to assist refugees from Bilbao have been quickly answered. It is announced that, after a private meeting of members of the House of Commons, a nation-wide appeal for funds will be launched. It is hoped to begin evacuation in two days. A spokesman said that the Foreign Office would fully approve and this is interpreted to mean that the Navy would assist. Senor Picavea, representative of the Basque Government in Paris, interviewed the Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Delbos, after which he said that enough ships were at Bilbao to evacuate the refugees, who urgently want France and Britain to protect the ships against the rebels.

STEAMERS FOR BILBAO ESCORTS OF DESTROYERS. Received April 29, 7.40 p.m. ST. JEAN-DE-LUZ, April 29. Escorted by the British destroyer Shropshire, four British cargo steamers, the Marvia, the Thorpe Hall, the Sheaffield and the Portelet, left for Bilbao. SHIP ARRIVES SAFELY. NO INCIDENT ON VOYAGE Received April 29, 10.39 p.m. BILBAO, April 29. The British foodship Blackworth arrived without incident. She was accompanied to the three-mile limit by a British destroyer. Received April 30, 12.5 a.m. BILBAO, April 29.

The Thorpe Hall, the Sheaffield, the Portelet and the Marvia have arrived.

BRITAIN AND THE BLOCKADE POLICY STILL UNCHANGED. REPLY TO FRANCO’S PROTEST. Received April 29, 10.39 p.m. LONDON, April 29. The Morning Post says that the British Government has rejected General Franco’s protest against the H M.S. Hood and the Firedrake’s action in protecting the MacGregor, Hamsterley and Stanbrook, maintaining that the warships’ operations occurred outside the three-mile limit and were, therefore, quite legitimate, and refusing to recognise General Franco’s claim that Spanish territorial waters extend six miles from the coast. There will, therefore, be no change in the British policy in relation to the blockade.

OBSERVATION SCHEME CANARY ISLANDS POSITION I British Official Wireleas. ] RUGBY, April 28. The chairman’s sub-committee of the International Non-Intervention Committee resumed consideration of the application of the observation scheme to the Canary Islands, and agreed that there should be a further study of the financial implications of the scheme for the Canary Islands in relation to the funds available for the observation scheme as a whole.

STRUGGLE WITH GERMANY POSSESSION OF FACTORIES AND MINES. THE ISSUE DEFINED. Received April 30, 12.5 a.m. PARIS, April 29. Senor Santiago Anzar, the Basque Minister of Commerce, declares:. “We are now involved in a direct struggle with Germany for Bilbao’s steel-factories and iron-mines, the possession of which Germany hopes to gain with destruction. Hence she is steadily aiming to force evacuation.”

DENIAL BY GERMANY DID NOT BOMB GUERNICA. Received April 29, 8.10 p.m. BERLIN, April 29. It is officially denied that German areoplanes bombed Guernica. O’DUFFY’S BRIGADE TO RETURN FROM SPAIN Received April 29, 11.45 p.m. LONDON, April 29. General O’Duffy’s Irish Brigade is shortly returning home from Spain owing to the Free State non-interven-tion legislation preventing the filling and replacing of casualties, and the men enlisated for six months or the duration, whichever was the shorter.