ISLAND OF MINORCA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 249, 20 October 1937, Page 7

ISLAND OF MINORCA

OCCUPATION BY FRANCE? INSURGENT PROTEST (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) SALAMANCA, Oct. 18. The spokesman for the insurgent forces, protesting against reports that the French will occupy Minorca, declares that the garrison of the Balearic Islands is entirely Spanish and that their actions do not prejudice other Powers. FRENCH PROPOSALS WITHDRAWAL FROM SPAIN BRITISH PRESS COMMENTS [ British Official Wirelecs.] RUGBY, Oct. 18. The committee of experts is discussing in private to-day the proposals advanced in the report recently submitted to the Non-Interven-tionist Powers on the working of the Spanish control system. At to-morrow's resumed meeting of the chairman’s sub-committee of the Non-Intervention Committee, Mr. Anthony Eden will preside in the absence of Lord Plymouth. The considered views of the Governments represented on the Committee will, it is hoped, be available on the French plan for the withdrawal from Spain within as short a time as possible of non-Spanish combatants. There is no indication in the Press to regard the outlook for the success of the French proposals with undue optimism, but the Times says that the discussion was “not unhelpful.” The Daily Telegraph says that behind all the signs of dissension there is a surprising measure of agreement on fundamentals. The only jarring note came from the Soviet. The Daily Herald is critical of the Italian suggestion that the numbers of withdrawals on each side shall be equal "This,” says the Herald, “is inequitable and is known by Italy to be unacceptable, offering scope for protracted talk.” The News-Chronicle describes the Italian offer as a mockery of unfairnets. Italian Suggestion The Manchester Guardian says that Count Grandi’s references to an equal quantity in withdrawals and to belligerent rights open out the old and dreary vLta of interminable talk leading to a goal of action that indefinitely recedes. The Interventionist Powers have played this profitably and long, but surely as far as the N6n-Intervention Committee is concerned for the last time. The Times says that the grant of belligerent rights can only be safely made if it can be assumed that they will be exercised with a due sense of responsibility and with respect for international law, which, as a matter of fact, has been disregarded by the naval comanders on both sides. It involves setting up trustworthy prize courts and the publication of official lists of contraband. These difficulties, however, could doubtless be overcome as part of the agreement putting an end to the flow of foreign combatants’ munitions into Spain. In that case serious consideration might also be given to the possibility of meeting the grievance over what Count Grandi denounced as the intolerable abuse in the Mediterranean of the flags of some of the great Powers. A necessary preliminary, however, to any agreement is that effective steps should be taken to end once and for all the movement of munitions and reinforcements from abroad. As soon as the required undertakings have been given and the necessary control established, it will be possible to arrange for the withdrawal of the troops already there and to fix the stage at which it will be practicable, with proper safeguards, to grant belligerent rights to the two rival Governments.