OPINION IN SOUTH AFRICA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 254, 27 October 1939, Page 7

OPINION IN SOUTH AFRICA

SWINGING TOWARD GENERAL SMUTS TREND OF THE REACTIONARIES | , (By Telegraph —Press Association—Copyrigh 1 J Received Oct. 26. 8.5 p.m. LONDON. Oct. 26. The Exchange’s Johannesburg correspondent. states that opinion throughout the Union is strongly swinging towards General Smuts . policy. The Zoutpansbcrg reactionary 1 centre is now solidly for Smuts and the Wit watersrand United Party ' | branches are 92 per cent, for the Govj ernment. J i The Times Bloemfontein corres- ' pondent states that Doctor Viljoen. Secretary for Agriculture, said that 1 Britain was willing to operate South Africa's open wool market sufficiently to maintain prices at least at the Australian level, possibly more. I The United Kingdom will doubtlessly take the maize export surplus and (will definitely take all surplus dairy ' produce and citrus fruits. WAS THE GNEISNAU SUNK BY R.A.F.? A NORWEGIAN STORY f . Received Oct. 27. 12.30 a.m. s | LONDON. Oct. 26. Did the Royal Air Force sink the German battleship Gneisnau during the raid in Wilhelmshaven, the Nazi naval base, shortly after war broke out? The Norwegian newspaper Arbeiderbladet publishes the story of an eye-witness, claiming that 1 a bomb fell down the Gneisnau’s funnel, breaking the ship in half, j The British Air Ministry has no confirmation of such a report. ROYAL OhK CLASS HAS BEEN "BULGED” 1 COSTLY I’ROl ECTION AGAINSI I’ j TORPEDOES I STATEMENT ON SINKING NEXT WEEK LONDON. Oct. 25. 1 In the l-louae ol Commons the First Lord of the Admiralty. Mr. Winston i Churchill, said that the British warship Royal Oak was several miles from any other vessel when she was torpedoed. He hoped to make a statement on the result of the inquiry ; into the sinking next week. Other battleships of the Royal Oalclass have been "bulged" al a cost ol £200.000 each as a protection against torpedoes. SINKING OF THE ATHENIA 1C “ INVESTIGATION IN U.S.A. GOLD AND SECURITIES SAID TC at BE A REASON oIS o- Ptcceived Oct. 27, 12.45 a.m. K MONTREAL. Oct. 26. K The New York Daily News say: "■ that the Department, of Justice is in vestigating impressive evidence tha I the Germans sank the Athenia because they were convinced that thi . vessel carried 22,000,000 dollars o oi gold (metal) and 37.000,000 dollars ii k. negotiable securities. iy It is asserted that the informatior rl came from sources close to great Ger te man salvaging companies, one o in which is Krupp's. a- It is said that Canadian representa nd lives of the owners of the Athenia an >n not axyare of whether she camel nc treasure. New Zealander Safe. H. G. Vivian, the New Zealani cricketer, has anived in New York oi board the ’Georgie, lit and well. H ■i a was surprised at the false report tha a- he was a survivor ot the torpedoe u ’ liner Yorkshire. Vivian is leaving Io he New Zealand shortly. an sitting al home with his widowe: ti" mol her in Blackpool. 15-year Joh Taylor, a bugler on board the Y prk is shire, told a moving story ot th u- disaster. :ct | •■£ remember a mother and tw< a | little daughters clinging together <n ui the deck as the ship went down, n er said. “They seemed too stunned an shocked to move. A six-year-old gil Hazel Armstrong, fell dow n the hmer She and her seven-year-old brothe were saved, hut I heir mother and twsisters, aged live and two, wetdrowned. j “1 went, to the bridge after th !R first, explosion. The captain said j 'Get a boat. 1 will join you as sooi as possible.’ (The captain went dow: with the ship! People piled into th boats and natives fell on their knee and prayed. A second explosion occurred aim tn Yorkshire heeled over. ■ dived c~e at' and swam for live minutes. My thic ne trousers began to drag me down, bu ■y- a wave washed me up on the side 01. d: lifeboat and .someone dragged me u I' l ' We were eight hours in the boat, bail ' e_ ing continuously, when the Indepenc wi" en.ee Hall arrived.” io-.-al x - ENTIRELY REASONABLE he PEACE its isDESIRES OI THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN fiis hp RELIABLE GOVERNMENT IN "A GERMANY 1 British Official Wireless I b " RUGBY. Oct. 25. The Archbishop of York, speaking i Scarborough, said that the people c Britain would desire to make an er tirely reasonable peace with th people of Germany when the latte 90 had a Government which was reliabl anci trustworthy. ou in Advertising can ieduce selling cost and lessen the time in which a pre ’ duct moves from factory to consume;