THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 15, 1939
INTERCEPTION OF NAZI BLOCKADE-RUNNERS BY THE NAVY: SCUTTLING ORDER
London, To-day.
THE EFFICIENCY of the British naval patrols has INCREASE again been demonstrated by the interception of IN ARMY
the German ships Mecklenburg and Parana.
The vessels were spotted in spite of their using bad FAMILY
weather and the northern mists in an attempt to reach Norwegian territorial waters en route
to Germany.
ADMIRAL SCHEER IN
PACIFIC?
(SPECIAL TO "CHINA MAIL")
London, To-day.
When stopped, the Mecklenburg was disguised
Hoogkerk.
as the Dutch ship
Both the German
had been
GRANTS
London, To-day. The Secretary for. War,
TIENTSIN BLOCKADE RACKET
Peiping, To-day. Travellers state that the Ja- panese have tightened the ros- trictions at the barriers round the British Concessión in Tientsin.
The blockade, which has last- ed five months, has developed into a "racket."
Rellable
sources report that prices for a quick passage vary from a few cents for coolies to £8 for trucks, laden with mer- chandise. Reuter.
NO
sheltering in South American ports, Mr. Leslie Hore-Belisha, ROMANCE
and both scuttled themselves to avoid explained in the House of
capture.
German merchantmen leaving neutral shelter are prepared to suffer total loss rather than con- tinue to pay harbour dues, owing to the seriousness of the German lack of foreign currency.
Commons yesterday the AT WAR
increases in
the allow-
ances for families of men OFFICE
serving in the Army,
They are using all manner of Navy and Air Force.
ruses in the attempt to slip through the British naval patrols. Some of them succeed.
Even those that succeed are
use-
Mr. Hector Bywater, the less to Germany owing to the British
domination "Daily Telegraph" naval cor-
of all seas except the baltic. Reuter. respondent, suggests the pos- sibility of the presence of the Admiral Scheer somewhere in the Pacific in view of the recent suspicious movements of German freighters there.
Last Thursday, he points out, the German steamer, Lasn, left Talca huano, Chile, with a cargo of fuel and foodstuffs.
On Sunday, the German freighter Tacoma also left the same port.
Finally two other German freigh- ters slipped out of Nagasaki.
All these vessels, it is considered possible, followed secret instructions to proceed to a certain point in the Pacific with a view to meeting the Admiral Scheer. Havas.
ROYAL NAVY. CHECKS U-BOATS
London, To-day.
TIENTSIN GARRISON
London, To-day.
In the case of a household with The name of Miss Joan eight children there would be paid in Richardson, who was refus- respect of a soldier on the lowest rate ed permission by the of pay the following:
War Wife 17/- plus 7/- in respect of Office to fly to Singapore to herself, 5/- for the first child, 4/- marry Lt. D. E. D. Morris, for the second child, 3/- each for the was again mentioned in the remaining six children, giving a total of 51/-.
House of Commons yesterday.
In the event of special cir. cumsstances, like high rent, Shanghai, To-day.
claims may be met to an extent A spokesman of the British Em- of a further 2/- a week, bassy told the press yesterday that
On the present army alone the 600 British troops will be withdrawn existing annual expenditure of from Tientsin, leaving 400 to protect £10,000,000 on children's allowances British interests. The Shanghai gar-will be increased by £2,000,000, and rison will not be affected.-Our Own the latter increase is expected luter Correspondent.
to be doubled. Reuter.
SUN FO DISCUSSES CHINA PROBLEMS WITH M.P.S
London, To-day.
DR. SUN FO, China's special envoy to Europe, gave an interesting address to the China Committtee of the House of Commons last evening. Sir J. S. Wardlaw-Milne presided.
Mr. Hore-Belisha, the War Secre- tary, replying to a question, declared it was undesirable in present circum- stances for any military families to proceed to Mediterranean or Far East stations in addition to before the outbreak of war.
those there
In a supplementary, the ques- tionar declared that on the same date, on the same conditions, and for the same purpose, another lady was granted an application to go to Calcutta.
Mr. Hore-Belisha was unable to give an explanation of the apparent anomaly, Reuter.
MASSAGE "SHOPS"
Two Chinese women and a man brought before Mr. R. A. D.
were
Forrest at the Central Magistracy
ed with keeping massage establish-
this morning, when they were charg-
ments without a licence from the Commissoner of Police.
The accused were Wong Fan, 28,
Members listened keenly and asked many questions
both regarding China and Russia. Dr. Sun Fo spinster, Leung Wai, 30, married returns to Paris on Friday.
During his stay
at the Chinese
Embassy in London, the Ambassador, Mr. Quo Tal-chi, has given a series
Up to November 4, 54 Bri- tish ships of roughly 238,000
of luncheon parties at the Embassy tons, seven Allied ships of
at which Dr. Sun Fo has met repre- about 48,000 tons and 33 neu-sentative groups of Conservative, tral ships of approximately Liberal and Labour M.P.'s and lead- 94,700 tons have been des- ing journalists. troyed by U-boat action.
Greatest losses to British shipping occurred at the beginning of the war, but although further losses must be expected the average loss is steadily decreasing.
There is every reason for satisfac- tion regarding the anti-submarine campaign, as is shown by a compari- son with the figures of losses occasion- ed in the last war by the German unrestricted submarine warfare which started in February, 1917.
In that month 114 British ships, representing 200,000 tons, were lost, in March 140 of 287,000 tons and in April, when sinking reached the peak, 450 British, Allied or neutral ship of 852,000 U-boats.
tons were destroyed by
In May, 1917, the convoy system was started and from then until the war's end 99.08 per cent. of 10,898
ships which sailed in convoy reached
port. British Wireless.
On Monday, Dr. Sun Fo had a long conversation with Mr. Wins- ton Churchill, from which Dr. Sun Fo tells Reuter he brought away a very satisfactory impres sion of the British Government's attitude to China.
Dr. Sun Fo also spent considerable time with
UNUSUAL CEREMONY
Ottawa, To-day.
woman, and Tso Kwok-hing, 30 un- employed.
Defendants were fined $10 each. Chung Shu-ting, 30.unemployed, who pleaded-not guilty when charged with a similar offence, was remanded till to-morrow.
Defendant was allowed bail of $70. Sub Inspector J. Orem is in charge of the case.
A ceremony without precedence took place in Ottawa yesterday when Mr. Fairbairn, the Australian dele- RED ARMY MOVES INTO gate to the Empire air talks, sworn in as an Australian Federal Minister by the Governor-General of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir.~Reuter,
Whilst walking in Hill
Road
was
at
LITHUANIA
(SPECIAL TO "CHINA MAIL")
Kaunas, To-day. The first Soviet troops, which, under . the
October treaty of
10 will be
Sir Alexander Cadogan, 9.50 a.m. yesterday, Mrs. H. C. Ku stationed at certain points in Lithua-
1
had a wrist watch snatched. snatcher escaped.
The nio, crossed the frontier yesterday.
Havas.
Chief HITLER POLITELY REFUSES
former British Ambassador to China and now in the Foreign Office.
CHINESE PLEASED
Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, Economic Adviser to the Govern- ment, is giving a luncheon on Thurs- ¦ day in order to introduce Dr. Sun Fo to Mr. Oliver Stanley, President of the Board of Trade.
London, To-day,· THE GERMAN REPLY to the Hague peace appeal was handed to the Dutch and Belgian Ministers in Berlin yester- day afternoon.
Chinese circles in London are much pleased with the results of Dr. Sun Fo's visit, which they are convinced The text has not yet been officially disclosed, but the has had an especially good effect at Berlin correspondent of the Stockholm "Aftonbladet" a time when they belleve propaganda to be extremely active.states that Hitler politely declines the proferred mediation.
-Reuter.
Reuter.