Mines Laid

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 74, 14 April 1937, Page 5

Mines Laid

(Bntisb Official Wireless.)

REBEL WARNING TO SHIPPING Two Britons Anxious To Take Risks ''BLUFF," SAYS ONE

(Received 14, 2.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 13. The Spanish rebel Government has notified the British Board of Trade that mine-laying will be intensified between Cape Sacratif and Cape Falcon, in the Mediterranean, and between Uape Vidiago and Cape Machinchagho, in the Bay of Biscay. The rebels are reservmg safety zones off Valencia and Barcelona. A message from Bayonne says that Captain John Jones, of the British cargo steamer McGregor, now at Bayonne, announces his eagerness to go to Bilboa to take adv&ntage of the freight rates of 12/- a ton on his cargo of fiour and dried beans from Cardiff. He would take in return a ca^go of iron ore, which would be invaluable to British rearmament requirements. Captain Still, of the Hamsterley, declares that he does not believe "all this bluff" about mines in Bilboa harbour. He would go to that port immediately but for the Admiralty prohibition. Senor Oruezabala, head of the Basque delegation at Bayonne, declares that the British ships going to Bilboa would not be endangered because coastal guns with a range of 23 miles can keep off rebel warships. For this reason, if the British navy escorts merchantmen to the edge of the three-mile line the merchantmen need .fear nothing.